Davos/New Delhi:
The five-day meeting in Davos which begins on Monday will explore ways to revive growth, harness new technologies and build social and economic resilience, according to the World Economic Forum. The global meeting will see the participation of nearly 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries, including 350 government leaders.
NDTV spoke to Bob Mumgaard, CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Abhishek Awadhiya of SimpliAI and Akshay Saxena, founder of Avanti Fellows – people who actually have a say in where this is all going.
It’s been a year of real crisis in the world, from conflict to concerns about sustainability to concerns about many issues, including the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and the climate.
Nuclear fusion energy
Mr. Mumgaard began by providing an overview of the future of nuclear power plants in terms of fusion energy and operational safety.
“It’s completely different from existing nuclear power. It’s the opposite. In fusion, you combine light elements to make heavier ones in the same way as the Sun’s living nuclear waste,” said Mr. Mumgaard, who deals with one of the most exciting aspects of clean energy.
“The problem right now is that we still need to develop the technology and deploy it. We are currently building the very first power plants. Right now we are halfway through building the first prototype outside of Boston,” he said. NDTV.
Mr. Mumgaard said his company grew out of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
“We started about three years ago building this machine. In about two years we will turn it on, and it will be a significant moment in the world where we will have, for the first time, fusion on a scale Industrial energy is created by people,” said the CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
On costs, which will be a key factor in clean energy production, Mumgaard said the goal of any new sustainable energy is to produce energy in a way that the world can afford growth, which means it must be inexpensive.
“And one of the advantages of technologies like fusion is that you take all these other technologies that have come before, you add them together. And so you get the cost advantages from new ways of manufacturing, you get advantages in terms of costs through simulation, the use of AI and the fusion itself So we think this could lead to a low cost energy source We still need to build this and have the. recipes I am currently working on,” he added.
AI and workplace disruption
Abhishek Awadhiya of SimpliAI said he strongly believes that AI will work collaboratively with humanity and the workforce to increase productivity.
“A lot of our work – although focused on automation at SimpliAI – is a strong belief that in the short term, all of these AI tools are going to increase staff productivity across all functions and roles. This is very important for all stakeholders. “We really need to make this argument very clear and very succinct to the general public, so that the fear factor around AI is really replaced by positivity and hope,” Mr. Awadhiya said.
Regarding the disappearance of jobs due to AI in the workplace, he said: “Well, as the World Economic Forum report itself says, although there will be around 90 million jobs that will be replaced by 2030, an additional 170 million will be created. . So, in my mind, it’s like what happened during the industrial revolution. Jobs that are repetitive and low value in nature will be moved up the value chain. this is what will unlock productivity for humanity as a whole. »
The future of education and AI
Avanti Fellows founder Akshay Saxena has warned against using AI too quickly in education.
“I think there are a couple of things that we need to be very careful about, especially when you look at it in the context of a country like India, where we already have huge, widening inequalities. “One is, as Abhishek said, the nature of work is going to change, meaning you’ll almost have to work with an AI co-pilot alongside you,” Mr Saxena said.
“What are our schools doing to equip children to do this? And how many children are exposed to this? Because the majority of children in India don’t even have cell phones, or access to the internet in any meaningful way.” what does this mean for our colleges? Because India has one of the largest engineering populations that we produce, but also one of the least employable engineering populations,” he said. “So how can we quickly reshape our schools of engineers and our technical schools so that graduates are truly ready for AI? And if you don’t act quickly on these fronts, it could be quite catastrophic for India’s youth.”
In Davos, India’s participation aims to strengthen partnerships, attract investments and position the country as a global leader in sustainable development and technological innovation. India is sending five Union ministers, three chief ministers and ministers from several other states to the WEF this time.