Artifcial General Intelligence: How Can We Regulate It for the Good of Humanity?, with Jerome Glenn and Geci Karuri-Sebina (Southern Africa Node Co-Chair), moderated by Ibon Zugasti (Spain Node Chair), November 27, 2023.

Report by Ibon Zugasti

The session started with a keynote presentation by Jerome Glenn where he highlighted that creating and enforcing regulations for the transition from Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) to Artificial General intelligence (AGI) could be the most difficult challenge humanity has ever faced. Cooperation among national governments and the UN will determine the success or failure of this challenge. Estimates on when AGI will be available keep getting closer and closer, giving us less time to create regulatory system that we thought just a few years ago. The requirements to govern ANI, including generative AI, sometimes called genAI, which gets confused with Artificial General intelligence, are seriously different than the governance requirements for AGI. Distillation of key Insights from The Millennium Project‘s AGI study of 55 AGI leaders from the US, China, EU, Russia, and the UK on 22 questions were shared, along with next steps to assess AGI governance models and alternative global AGI scenarios.

During the open conversation with Geci Karuri Sebina, founding Chair and current Co-Chair of the MP South Africa Node, and other participants in the session, major issues were raised related to the inclusiveness of the governance of the ANI-AGI transition (who is deciding), the privacy aspects and cybersecurity challenges, future skills needed and the role of non state actors and key stakeholders such as Universities.

Download Jerome Glenn’s slides in .pdf

“Anticipate Responsibly: How Should Governments Act on Foresight?” With Epaminondas Christophilopoulos (Greece Node Chair), November 27, 2023.

Report by Epaminondas Christophilopoulos

What a great session we had on anticipatory governance at the Dubai Future Forum.
I always cherish the years I spent as Head Scientific Advisor on Foresight at the Presidency of the Government. It was a great experience to be on the dark side of the moon, the unknown place. At the same time, I was worried because there are very few successful cases and it is very difficult to talk about failures. And I was totally worried that we were going to have a sallow, boring discussion, but we had a crowded hall and amazing discussions. Nevertheless, I was moderating 3 amazing panelists Dimitri Lorenzani (from the Cabinet of Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič ), Aarathi Krishnan, who has been recently working with the UN system and governments globally, and Cheryl Chung, with a huge experience at the Singapore government.
-We talked about the need to be anticipatory, particularly in the space of risk, we talked about how “Good intentions alone cannot prevent harm and good intentions alone can cause harm”,
-We talked about the need to adjust to local needs and also to not be afraid to experiment even at high government levels.
-We talked about the EU’s investment in anticipatory governance the recent years and the need to integrate more foresight, especially in policies related to emerging technologies like A.I.

Dimitri, Aarathi, Cheryl thank you so much!

The Dubai Future Forum hashtag#DFF, Dubai Future Foundation offered again this year a hospitable place for discussions with experts across the globe. It is very difficult to remove the European /white caucasian lenses, and DFF offers exactly this.

“What’s Behind A Life in Foresight?” With Paul Saffo, Board member, November 27, 2023

Highlights by Diana Stafie

• The essence of doing futures work is for creating, not predicting.
• Engaging in futures work with strangers and diverse profiles, not just like-minded colleagues.
• Emphasizing that agreement isn’t necessary for shaping the future. The future it’s not about consensus.
• The crucial need for love, justice, and power in creating better futures, all applied with intention.

The video of the session is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8JeokIWSLU&t=26429s (from 7:28:00)

“Building a Culture of Foresight Evaluation: What are We Learning?” With Shermon Cruz, Philippines Node and APF Chair, November 28, 2023.

Report by Diana Stafie

Dubai Future Forum: ‘Building A Culture of Foresight Evaluation: What Are We Learning?’ – A very nice panel hosted by John Sweeney discussing the crucial, yet not-easy aspect of evaluation of foresight work. Its importance lies in being a rich source of learning for practitioners in the field.
Annette Gardner introduced a valuable tool for (public) organizations to assess foresight work – the APF guide. When asked about more corporate / commercial foresight evaluations, Anette highlighted René Rohrbeck’s notable contributions in this area.
Shermon Cruz shared insights on his strategic foresight index. What I understood is that it encompasses a two-part framework: 1) Management committee, policy and plan, governance, roles, and responsibilities. 2) Training, awareness, competencies, skills, and resource commitments. This index could serve as a guide for selecting relevant strategic programs. After implementation, we evaluate their maturity, followed by continuous monitoring and evaluation, thereby enhancing the strategic foresight capabilities.
John wrapped up the session with the compelling ‘toothbrush analogy’ (also echoed by Geci Karuri-Sebina in other occasions). Is it sufficient to brush our teeth just once a year? Similarly, why should we only think about the future occasionally? Acting on change, like dental care, should be regular and necessary.

Decolonizing Futures: What Perspectives can AfroFuturism Offer for a New Techno-sci-art Consciousness? with Geci Karuri-Sebina, founding Chair and Co-Chair of the Southern Africa Node, November 28, 2023

Report in progress