Obama in Lisbon warns on AI security and US-China ties

Former US president Barack Obama said in Lisbon that coordinating artificial intelligence security between the United States and China will be difficult, warning that the technology is moving faster than governments can respond. Speaking at the Game Changers Forum at the Meo Arena, Obama said the issue matters because current safeguards are not keeping pace with the speed of technological change.

“Technology moves very quickly, but governments move very slowly,” Obama said. He added that stronger safety measures are needed and that while this effort “has to start in the US”, China is also highly advanced, making coordination necessary despite tensions in the bilateral relationship.

Obama said the current wave of technological change is unfolding faster than earlier digital shifts, including the global spread of smartphones during his presidency. He compared the impact to the arrival of automation in factories in the 1970s and 1980s, but said the social, political and economic effects would now play out over 10 years rather than 30.

He also said many professional jobs, including doctors and lawyers, will change as more tasks are carried out by machines. During the nearly hour-long conversation with Ricardo Parreira, the former chief executive of PHC Software, Obama also linked rapid technological disruption to wider political stress and conflict, and made indirect criticism of current US leadership while discussing the need for leaders who listen to different views.

Originally published at Eco.pt