Sachin Dev Duggal joined ‘The AI Moment’ at the Web Summit Qatar 2024

LONDON, UK. March 22nd, 2024 - The Web Summit Qatar recently played host to a compelling conversation centered around the ongoing AI moment and its implications for various sectors. Kicking off the discussion, Julia Sieger from FRANCE 24 welcomed two distinguished guests: Mohamed Al-Hardan, representing the Qatar Investment Authority, and Sachin Dev Duggal, the visionary founder of Builder.ai.

Reflecting on the surge of interest in AI, Sachin Dev Duggal, drawing from his extensive experience at Builder.ai, highlighted the roots of AI tracing back decades, with notable milestones like Google's BERT model a decade ago. On the other hand, Sachin Duggal illustrated that the revolutionary transition in the year 2022 was not only due to the advancement in technologies but also to the groundbreaking design touches that improved user experience. The modifying of traditional interfaces along with purposeful delays in reactions outlined a new era and made AI more convenient and easier to learn for people.

With the Qatar Investment Authority just closing Builder.ai’s Series D funding round, Mohammed Al-Hardan indicated the reasons for the investment. He pointed out that having Building.ai shorten the development process and addressing AI in advance is wise. On the other hand, being rigid with due diligence is necessary for AI to be effective. The cutting-edge trend in AI startups involves not only how to deal with the emerging risks alongside AI but also the constant efforts to be the first to respond to AI-related technological progress.

When the conversation moved to the spread of AI and its effect on jobs, Duggal and Al-Hardan gave more detailed views than just the view that AI would result in many jobs being made obsolete and people being rendered unemployed. This is the dizzying future that Sachin Duggal painted where humans are likely to redefine themselves by being identified with creative endeavours rather than routine labour, changing the traditional view of jobs. Al-Hardan reiterated the same in the sense that everyone should adapt themselves to the new AI landscape and be eager to learn all the time.

AI governance, both speakers underscored that the ethical and regulatory dimensions of its current development are quite complex. Al-Hardan warned against the over-regulation that could bear off technological innovation which may be a key hope in this development, thus – the regulators and the technologists must join hands to close the ever-growing gap in understanding between these two critical stakeholders. 

The discussion was capped by an affirmation of the necessity for education reform to prepare young people of today for what it will take to be successful in the AI world of tomorrow. Sachin Dev Duggal underscored the imperativeness of offering human-oriented capabilities, including creativity and adaptability, to the nature of any educational program which should be responsive to any situation. 

The insights by Sachin and Al-Hardan were extremely enlightening and provided sophisticated information about areas such as sense of humanity, freedom, prejudice and responsibilities, among others, in the AI future. In the age of AI where the whole world is in transition, the discussion echoed the need for a human-centric innovation in the field of AI.