Pedro Domingos: Digital literacy is essential for using AI
Pedro Domingos, a computer science professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, disagrees, in an interview with Lusa, with the way artificial intelligence (AI) is being regulated and considers digital literacy an "essential point".
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"The way AI is being regulated, in general, is completely wrong, particularly in Europe", even because "it has a certain tradition of absurd regulations", states the AI and 'machine learning' specialist.
In this case, "one of the mistakes is the privacy issue", he points out.
"The right prism is data sharing, it is not how I design my data from those evil companies that will manipulate us, it is how I use my data for the maximum benefit for me and for the causes I believe in", explains the winner of the "SIGKDD Innovation Award", the most prestigious award in 'data science' and 'fellow' of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and author of the book "Master Algorithm".
"It is like putting money under the mattress. With the AI Act [AI regulation] and the GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation] we will keep the data under the 'mattress', but "I want to invest my data for the maximum benefit", illustrates Pedro Domingos.
And for that, people need to understand what artificial intelligence is and how they can benefit from it.
"Digital literacy is the essential point of all this, it is lacking, there needs to be more", insists the professor and AI specialist, referring that steps are being taken in this direction, but "much more needs to happen and happen more quickly".
For Pedro Domingos, "in the same way that people need to know how to add and multiply, read and write, they must also work with artificial intelligence, there needs to be an awareness of these things".
Even because AI "is developing very quickly" and it is necessary to understand how to work with this tool and lose the fear of using it.
"One of them is to lose their fears, because the fear of artificial intelligence is the fear of the dark. It is necessary to have a sufficient understanding of artificial intelligence" and then, "unfortunately, there are always alarmists" about technology, he continues.
"Fear plays an important role", but people need to see the opportunities and be prepared not to be manipulated, he warns.
And how do you invest in digital literacy? "There have to be several things, there needs to be training in schools, there needs to be 'life long learning' [lifelong learning]", he lists.
Even because people have to get used to "the idea that they will continue to learn throughout their lives, including Artificial Intelligence", defends Pedro Domingos, reinforcing that AI will continue to evolve, often in ways that no one is able to predict.
"My attitude as a worker is: 'In three years I will probably continue to do my job, but in a different way, I have to learn" and "part of that can be training in companies", but universities and international institutions "should be our partners for lifelong education".
He admits that there will be people for whom these solutions do not work, but Pedro Domingos recalls that the use of AI has several levels and everyone uses it without knowing it, as is the case with search engines, for example.
Also Read: Future? "It is up to us to invent it and make it happen", says Pedro Domingos (Portuguese version)
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