As the quick dynamic of artificial intelligence continues to be widely discussed, the question of addressing its regulation on higher levels is "fundamental," an academic opined while discussing the technology's broader implications and benefits.

"I'm not sure people are fully aware of the scope of technology, of the exponential nature of its development, so once these tools are used to enhance themselves, the process explodes," Manuel Muniz, provost of IE University in Madrid, told Daily Sabah in an exclusive interview recently.

Assessing in detail the wider emergence of AI, which began nearly 18 months ago with OpenAI's release of ChatGPT, Muniz highlighted the need for "striking a balance" between the pros and cons of artificial intelligence while delving into prospects of the regulation on the global level, among others.

Answering a question on the concerns and implications of technology and its impact on geopolitical issues, Muniz said, "We were all still in the process of learning about technology, and as time goes by, as technology changes ... we are now beginning to assess their impact fully."

Muniz recalled the launch of many chatbots, such as Bard and Copilot, apart from ChatGPT, and stressed that "we should have had a much more structured debate and a dialogue between the company, regulators and public authorities around the product that is launched."

"Because if you compare to how we treat very impactful and complicated medicines and the approval process they go through before they are put into society, this process of the launch of generative AI tools went through none of that," he said.

Furthermore, he highlighted it was "desirable" to have much deeper public-private debates on the ethics, the regulation and the risks of these technologies before they are launched and put out in society. Because if not, "we are playing catch up," he said, adding that then, "all of us are trying to assess and discover what the implications are and then trying to manage the consequences."

The academic also said there is a very clear impact on public debate, the generation of false information, profiles, fake imagery, fake videos and fake audio, providing the example of the recent fake voice message of U.S. President Joe Biden, which stoked wider debate over disinformation amid the ongoing electoral process.

"There would be an impact in the cybersecurity space, not just on the public debate, election interference and hacking this information, but also on cybersecurity," noted Muniz.

"It is very clear that these tools can be used to create sophisticated cyber weapons, so there is going to be an impact in that space as well, so you know it's going to be a long list of implications," he stated.

"So my message is that we are now beginning to comprehend the implications fully. We should have had and should be moving forward in a much more structured discussion about the implications of this that involves regulators, the government and private institutions developing the tech."

'Whatever works'

Detailing the regulatory issues while answering the question about what type of regulation is needed and whether each country needs to develop its own approach, Muniz said: "Whatever works, you know. We have a lack of regulation. The regulators are always playing catch-up in this field, and they are at a fundamental disadvantage."

He listed disadvantages for regulators in terms of not being acquainted with tech and knowing the innovation process and said, "They are (also) to some extent in disadvantage in terms of human capital because it's very hard to bring interdisciplinary capital into government."

"I would wish that most of the regulation happened globally or regionally, so I think that a lot of these things should be addressed at the U.N. level," he said.

"Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general, has created a high-level panel on artificial intelligence with experts, and they are putting together recommendations for the regulation of AI and global regulation," he said.

Conveying that one of the consequences of that process is probably the creation of an AI agency, along with an alliance of nuclear energy and the atomic energy agency, and that it would develop AI standards and regulations, Muniz said, "I think that's very positive."

He also underscored that broader regional organizations such as the EU, if having "the capacity, knowledge and willingness to put an 'AI Act' forward, which we have, and it's a very sophisticated piece of legislation, then we should accept that."

He added that such regulations could pave the way and have regulatory effects beyond European borders, stating that if none of these work, then "the states have the full legitimacy to regulate the way their citizens interact with these technologies."

On the brighter side, Muniz said, "Well, if the technology is properly guarded, if it's properly regulated, the promise of artificial intelligence is almost unprecedented."

"The capacity of these tools, for example, to bring innovation and change in health care space is extraordinary," he said.

"You are going to be able to extract patterns in behaviors of certain diseases, which is already allowing us to detect very early on, so, i.e., AI systems are being used for diagnostics in oncology, in cancer treatment, and we are being able to detect cancers much earlier than expected, for example, pancreatic cancer," he explained, referring to one of the most severe types of cancer.

He also elaborated on the possible positive effects on access to education, such as having personalized tutors in less accessible areas in the world or the prospect of helping governments deliver better public services, adding that the promise of AI is "immense."

However, he stresses why he focuses so much on the regulatory side, on containing the negative externalities: "It's because the other voices are very numerous. We have a lot of advocates for technology, inter-capitalists, corporations investing billions in these technologies, so the forces for pushing and advancing technologies."

"We see a real lack of forces dedicated to governing the negative extent of these technological developments. That's why we need also capacity and foresight."

"So we will need to strike a balance between benefits and negative externalities," he said.

Muniz, meanwhile, said he thinks "that the technology is going to change the world" while noting that more development in AI was observed in the last seven months or so than in the past 40 years.

"And this is only the beginning of the process. We are right at the beginning of the exponential curve of development, which might lead, like I said, to artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is clearly the stated goal of companies like OpenAI ... AGIs are super powerful entities that can perform analytical functions across the board in a better way than a human being, so think what this means for jobs, for the economy, for security."

"So it's very important to put this on the table, give it scale, give it perspective and generate the discussion," he concluded.