Artificial intelligence can go many different ways, that’s ‘up to us’

President Obama’s former tech adviser Megan Smith wants artificial intelligence to be put to greater use in unlikely places.

Former US chief technology officer and Obama administration adviser Megan Smith now heads up shift7, an organisation that seeks to direct technology talent and capital into organisations that would otherwise miss out. Picture: Bloomberg

Megan Smith points out that when electricity was first made widespread, customers would regularly dress up in their Sunday best or make it a day out to pay their bill.

So too, the iPhone was a force of its own and Google Maps – a business she previously oversaw – was a showstopper.

Today, all of those things are so ingrained in our lives we don’t even think of them. The same will happen with the biggest force in technology today: artificial intelligence.

There too will be a moment when AI becomes unremarkable, Smith says.

Smith was the former US chief technology officer, an adviser to the Obama administration on technology, and she has worked with Apple and Google where she oversaw the Google earth and maps projects.

Smith has spent a lot of time advocating AI as a force for good, but this will only come if the technology is used beyond businesses or entertainment and also finds a home in not-for-profit companies, philanthropic organisations and importantly healthcare. These days Smith heads up shift7, an organisation that seeks to direct technology talent and capital into organisations that would otherwise miss out.

“I’m a realist,” Smith tells The Australian on the sidelines of the UBS Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong.

“I think we can use technology for innovation, and AI can go many different ways. So it really is up to us to decide how to make it more positive and progress as best we can.”

The recent dispute between Hollywood and Open AI, when actor Scarlet Johannson claimed a likeness of her voice was used in a demonstration of the tech company’s ChatGPT chatbot, shows there is a need for regulation and guardrails for the technology, Smith says.

“It’s a good example of what Hollywood’s experiencing because we’re seeing their experiences are on the edges (of) what we want and we don’t. And we’re going to have to figure that out as a society whether we have enough existing laws or when we need to make new laws.”

Indeed, there shouldn’t be an instinct among policymakers to just make new laws governing AI as existing laws from copyright, fraud and consumer protections can do the heavy lifting, but there will be gaps. Smith points to work being developed across Europe that is moving levels of risk assessment in the development of powerful AI models. These risks are: unacceptable, high risk, limited risk, and minimum risk.

Most of all, Smith wants governments and not-for-profits and healthcare getting as much exposure as possible to the technology. So the drive for AI applications and benefits are not just coming from Silicon Valley.

This is a process of cross-pollination that will guide policies around AI and tech.

“We really need technical people to serve their countries and to rotate in a tour of service. With the focus on listening and starting to collaborate”

“Of course, every government has tech, like, you know, like space agencies, IT, defence, energy, etc. But it doesn’t have techies at the main table.”

AI offers so many solutions to the challenges confronting all parts of society and the focus from business, governments and tech developers should remain on that.

It’s about “paying attention to the good and trying to reduce the bad. And that’s got to be a real team effort.”

Inflation nation

Higher-than-expected monthly inflation figures released on Wednesday will add another layer of uncertainty Australia’s consumers are facing, according to Kmart boss Ian Bailey.

The inflation numbers, that have prompted economists to start pushing back expectations of interest cuts, will hurt confidence.

“What we have at the moment is a reasonable amount of uncertainty. Because we all thought as consumers that inflation will come back down again, interest rates that have gone up, they’ll come back down. So it’s now sticky, and I think we’re all trying to figure that out as consumers,” Bailey tells The Australian.

His comments follow inflation for April coming in at 3.6 per cent, higher than the 3.4 per cent the market had been expecting. This means inflation has broadly tracked sideways for the past five months.

The figures were released as Bailey was speaking in Hong Kong at the UBS Asian Investment Conference. He headlined a session on Wednesday attend by fund managers and other investors. It was standing room only, and that showed a hunger among global investors to get a read on the economy, and broader interest in Australia’s story as an investment destination.

Even with persistent inflation, Bailey says the Australian consumer “has held up pretty well” considering the financial hit of interest rate rises on households.

“Then obviously rents have been increasing too, and the basic cost of living keeps on moving. So I think everyone’s trying to figure out how do they maintain that lifestyle with less disposable income that they had before.”

Kmart boss Ian Bailey: ‘We’ve seen growth across high, medium, and low income households.’

Even so, Bailey says his discount department store has been a beneficiary of the chase for value by consumers.

“Our business has been designed that way, with very broad appeal. We’ve seen growth across high, medium, and low income households over a period of time.” He expect this to continue even with the outlook for the cash rate being high for longer.

Kmart also has been a beneficiary of population growth, although Bailey says this trend has been supporting all retailers.

“Our existing customers are expanding into more categories. It all circles back to that point, they’re trying to find a way to maintain that lifestyle. And if they can buy an equivalent product for a lower price. That’s actually pretty helpful in today’s context.”

Bailey says talks with investors in recent days have shown a desire to get a better understanding of the Wesfarmers model, including how the chemicals to retailing conglomerate works. There’s also an increasing focus on the Kmart operating model and its shift to house brand products.

Today as much as 85 per cent of the items sold in Kmart stores are under its Anko brand.

Bailey says the growth of the Anko range from homewares to clothing is built around taking greater control of the supply chain. The retailer has its buyers working with factories where goods are produced on development. All this is designed to lower the end cost to consumers.

“It means that all those layers of intermediaries and duplications are not there … we’re really working productivity across every element of the process.”

It also gives scope for the Anko range to evolve. Through the Covid pandemic the focus was on homewares and furniture, now it’s on value and entertainment. Bailey’s team is pulling back on furniture, and is about to launch Fan Zone with AFL and NBA licensed clothing that sells at a fraction of the cost of typical fan gear.

“It’s giving much better value products to consumers who want to buy a T-shirt or cap, which has their AFL team on it,” he says.

The reporter travelled to Hong Kong as a guest of UBS

Originally published as Artificial intelligence can go many different ways, that’s ‘up to us’