A call to all AI business leaders: 1% for a fairer AI verse

My name is Elias, and I am a 14-year-old boy living in Indonesia. I have been fascinated by technology since I was a young kid. Like many people, over the past two years, I got exposed to the first generation of applications of AI for the broader public. I am an AI enthusiast, and it will no doubt allow me to achieve completely unfathomable feats over my lifetime, yet today I am writing this article as a concerned citizen of the AI-verse.

Over the past decade, AI and the power it promises to unleash have begun to conquer our economies, politics, and societies. As we are rapidly learning, its potential lies in its many use cases, yet most people, including the most renowned experts in the field, are far from understanding its future use cases and ramifications for humans and our planet. This being said, we already are seeing the first generations of practical applications that are so promising in solving what are some of the world’s and my generation’s principal challenges — including climate change and income inequality — that it is hard not to get overexcited.

From what we already know and see out there, AI could be a major tool in combating climate change, due to AI systems being able to more accurately predict weather patterns, amongst other things. These days we are already able to track deforestation, wildlife population and their movements, and even predict natural disasters like forest fires and floods through satellite data and sensor data.

Similarly, AI is being used as a valuable tool in healthcare, enhancing disease diagnosis and treatment due to significant gains in the time required for disease diagnosis. AI-driven image analysis can process and interpret scans much faster and more thoroughly than humans, leading to faster and more correct diagnoses and thus timely initiation of treatment. Other common use cases include logistics, finance, education, mobility, and many more.

For example, in the field of education, AI can customize teaching materials to each individual and provide personalized support throughout the learning process. In the field of finance, AI will allow for better risk management, compliance, and fraud prevention, as well as boost transparency. All to say that us as humanity are only beginning to scratch the surface in terms of realizing the future benefits that this technology has in store for humanity – not least in terms of economic benefits. Research from the McKinsey Global Institute suggests that AI’s value creation will reach $13 trillion by 2030, and this is just based on what we know as of today!

Yet we also know that over the course of history, technology has always been a double-edged sword. AI is no different, and the threat it poses to us is real, enormous and, similarly to its benefits, relatively unbeknownst as of today. It encapsulates anything from fears of extinction of humanity to interference in elections and undermining of democracies and to a massive disruption to the labor market.

About two years ago, my family and I moved out to SE Asia. One thing I have noticed here is that, while countries like Indonesia have grown rapidly to become middle-income countries, this development has gone hand in hand with a number of jobs which are prone to being replaced by AI in the near future. This has led me to look further into this topic, and whilst it is hard to get conclusive numbers on this, estimates range from 300 million to as many as 800 million job losses globally in the years to come as a result of the implementation of generative AI and resulting automation in the workplace. Apart from the economic havoc this will wreck on them and their families, on labor markets and structural long term unemployment, the psychological harm will probably be even worse. According to the US National Institute of Health (NIH) job loss can lead to Anxiety, stress, depression, and loss of self-esteem.

Most people agree that the challenges of AI will require a multidimensional solution. Leaving regulation and politics aside, I would like to make an appeal to the leaders of the global business community and ask them to not only act on the potential benefits of AI for their industries but also share the responsibility of dealing with the unintended consequences. Given that it is clear that AI will generate tremendous value and bottom line for them, here is a simple idea: What if the giants of the tech industry were to spend just 1% of its profits on helping those who are most at risk of losing their livelihoods as a result of AI? I suspect that the positive applications of AI and as a result additional income streams those companies stand to benefit from will easily exceed the 1% mentioned above? Just considering Microsoft, Tesla, Amazon, Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet and Meta this would mean a pledge of $3.3 billion for 2023 alone. With that amount of money, approximately 330,000 workers could be retrained and reinserted into the productive economy, touching on average 1.5 million human beings if you include their families.

What if those retrained employees could be a future hiring pool for those companies – a loyal, grateful cohort of citizens that have been given a second chance. Could that not be the foundation for a different corporate paradigm, one that demonstrates good corporate citizenship and contributes to shaping a fairer world where great profits also come with great responsibility? What if governments were to extend tax and other benefits to those companies that partake in this initiative? What if this was extended only to companies that generate more than a certain amount of profits annually, for example $1 billion in annual profits, so that the majority of small and medium sizes businesses would not be affected by this? What if those companies were awarded a special status or rating that attests to responsible corporate AI citizenship, similar to what B-corps have achieved in terms of adhering to standards of social and environmental performance?

I believe that technology is a force for good. I wish for leaders of that industry to model an exemplary and pioneering behavior by taking leadership, for the good and the bad, in the incredibly promising new AI-verse. 1% can really matter.

Everyone agrees that the challenges of AI will require a multidimensional solution. Leaving regulation and politics aside, I would like to make an appeal to the leaders of the global AI business community and ask them to not only act on the potential benefits of AI for their industries but also share the responsibility of dealing with the unintended consequences. Given that it is clear that AI will generate tremendous value and bottom line for them, here is a simple idea: what if the giants of the tech industry were to spend just 1% of its profits on helping those who are most at risk of losing their livelihoods as a result of AI? I suspect that the positive applications of AI and as a result additional income streams those companies stand to benefit from will easily exceed the 1% mentioned above? Just considering Microsoft, Tesla, Amazon, Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet and Meta this would mean a pledge of $3.3 billion for 2023 alone. With that amount of money, approximately 330,000 workers could be retrained and reinserted into the productive economy, touching on average 1.5 million human beings if you include their families. What if those retrained employees could be a future hiring pool for those companies – a loyal, grateful cohort of citizens that have been given a second chance. Could that not be the foundation for a different corporate paradigm, one that demonstrates good corporate citizenship and contributes to shaping a fairer world where great profits also come with great responsibility? What if governments were to extend tax and other benefits to those companies that partake in this initiative? What if this was extended only to companies that generate more than a certain amount of profits annually, for example $1 billion in annual profits, so that the majority of small and medium sizes businesses would not be affected by this? What if those companies were awarded a special status or rating that attests to responsible corporate AI citizenship, similar to what B-corps have achieved in terms of adhering to standards of social and environmental performance?

I believe that technology is a force for good. I wish for leaders of that industry to model an exemplary and pioneering behavior by taking leadership, for the good and the bad, in the incredibly promising new AI-verse. 1% can really matter.