Geopolitical shifts continue to move in varied and unpredictable ways, much like technological advances. With this relentless change, global business must nevertheless continue to operate, adapting constantly and improvising where needed. How can frontier technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, (not to mention quantum computing, nuclear fusion and many others), keep up with the questions of not just implementation and policy, but also ethics? Rules, regulations and policies lag technological advances, leaving unanswered questions, which creates uncertainty, the business community’s ultimate nemesis.
In this webinar, MIT Department of Political Science Professor, Nazli Choucri, and Sloan School of Management Senior Lecturer, Luis Videgaray, will analyze, discuss, and debate these topics with input from our online audience.
José Ramos comes to CR from OSRAM (R&D), where he was Head of Engineering and Business Development at Innovation Americas. In his role at OSRAM, Ramos was a strong proponent of the ILP, attended many of our events, and experienced first-hand the OSRAM-ILP relationship. Before OSRAM, Ramos was Project Developer at NORESCO/United Technologies in Westborough, MA, where he managed engineering, sales, marketing, financial and legal teams to implement sustainability projects for industrial, commercial, and institutional customers in the US and the Caribbean. Before that, Ramos was an independent technology consultant for many years focused on Spanish-speaking markets. Ramos has also held positions as Lecturer at MIT (Spanish), Engineering Manager (Shooshanian Engineering), and Mechanical Engineer for Central America and Caribbean projects (Stone & Webster).
Ramos earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at MIT and a Master of Arts in Spanish at Boston College. He also completed a one-year Icelandic language program at the University of Reykjavik.
Nazli Choucri is Professor of Political Science, Senior Faculty at the Center for International Studies (CIS), and Faculty Affiliate at the MIT Institute for Data, Science, and Society (IDSS). She focuses on cyberpolitics and computational social sciences in international relations—exploring emergent dynamics in three overarching “spaces” of 21st century politics, i.e. (i) traditional geo-political arena, (ii) natural environment, and (iii) constructed domain of cyberspace. She examines sources of conflict and threats to security, on the one hand, and strategies for sustainability and global accord, on the other. She is the author and/or editor of twelve books, most recently Cyberpolitics in International Relations (2012) and International Relations in the Cyber Age: The Co-Evolution Dilemma, with David D. Clark (2019).
Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Professor Choucri is the architect and Director of the Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD), an evolving knowledge system centered on sustainability problems and solution strategies. She created and directs CyberWorld@MIT and the related knowledge and networking system CyberIR@MIT. Both initiatives are rooted in the cyber-inclusive view of international relations introduced by the MIT-Harvard project on Explorations in Cyber International Relations (ECIR), for which she was Principal Investigator.
Professor Choucri served as General Editor of the International Political Science Review, and for two terms on the Editorial Board of the American Political Science Review. She was on the Science Board of the Santa Fe Institute, also for two terms. She is a founding member of the Artificial Intelligence World Society (AIWS) and is on the Board of the Boston Global Forum.
The world’s geopolitical “landscape” is changing significantly and unprecedentedly—largely triggered by rapid technological advances and diffusion. This trend undermines the established international order and calls into question conventional views of power and influence. Then, too, are complexities shaped by the co-evolution of “real” and virtual systems, reinforced by related cross-currents of seemingly conflicting actions and reactions. All of this creates new uncertainties for everyone, everywhere. In addition, we see a growing focus on the ethics of frontier technologies, most notably of and for artificial intelligence. Can that be a new dilemma? An added source of uncertainty? Or a challenge for business? Not to be overlooked is the growing ecosystem of policy responses, whose traditional form is text-based -- word after word, sentence after sentence. This venue inevitably imposes a linear logic, obscures embedded feedback, and often sets in motion unintended distortions. That said, what can be done?
Luis Videgaray is Director of MIT AI Policy for the World Project and a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to coming to MIT, he served as the Foreign Minister and Finance Minister of Mexico. As Foreign Minister (2017-18) he led Mexico´s relationship with the Trump White House, including the successful renegotiation of the NAFTA (now USMCA). He is one of the founders of the Lima Group, created to promote regional diplomatic efforts towards restoring democracy in Venezuela, and conducted Mexico´s leading role in the UN towards an inclusive debate on AI and other exponential technologies. He was named Finance Minister of the Year by both The Banker Magazine and Euromoney Magazine, and a Leading Global Thinker by Foreign Policy Magazine. Before government, Mr. Videgaray had a career in investment banking, advising M&A and private equity transactions. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT and a BA in Economics from Mexico’s ITAM.
The current state of artificial intelligence policy around the world is a rapidly evolving and complex topic, with new laws and regulations being implemented in response to the increasing presence and impact of AI in society. This talk will focus on some of the major developments in AI policy, including the introduction of new laws and regulations designed to govern the use of AI and mitigate its potential negative consequences. We will explore the challenges and implications of these policies and consider their potential impact on the future of AI and its role in business and society.