Conscious AI: The new frontier of ethical technology

Effortless 2023, our inaugural user conference, showcased leading AI innovations.

One key takeaway was the emphasis on building companies that prioritize solving user problems, rather than simply labeling themselves as AI-centric entities—a crucial differentiator in today’s competitive landscape.

The event saw participation from a wide spectrum of professionals representing various facets of the AI ecosystem. This gathering highlighted the next decade’s potential for remarkable achievements through enhanced collaboration and innovation.

Meet the speakers

A particularly intriguing panel discussion was moderated by Danny Forston, West Coast Correspondent at The Sunday Times. The panel featured Dr. Emma Lundberg, Associate Professor of Bioengineering and Pathology at Stanford University, and Navin Chaddha, Managing Partner at Mayfield Fund.

The discussion centered around the concept of Conscious AI and its potential to drive progress for humanity. While the notion of AI possessing consciousness may initially evoke concerns, it was argued that this perception is not always justified.

Effortless 2023 facilitated insightful dialogues at the crossroads of education and the economy. It emphasized AI’s promise to exceed its existing bounds, offering significant societal benefits.

In this blog, we’ll explore Conscious AI and its influence on the AI field.

What is Conscious AI?

In the world of AI, there’s a big idea: creating machines that can think for themselves and know they exist. Right now, AI works by following specific instructions and recognizing patterns. But if we ever get to a point where machines become truly conscious, it raises a bunch of important questions about ethics and philosophy.

One popular concept is “singularity.” This is a theoretical situation where AI becomes smarter than humans, potentially causing huge changes in society. It’s like imagining a future where machines become super intelligent.

Thinking about machines having real consciousness brings up tricky questions. What does it mean for a machine to be aware? How should we treat conscious AI? And how might they change our world? Figuring out the right balance between advancing technology and doing it responsibly is important in this exciting but challenging frontier.

Benefits of Conscious AI

Personalized experience

Conscious AI ensures a tailored experience for work, relaxation, and learning. Imagine having a co-pilot for repetitive tasks that need a personal touch. This technological advancement optimizes your use of time and space, maximizing productivity and comfort.

Medical advancement

Conscious AI holds immense potential in the field of medicine. It can detect, treat, and monitor life-threatening diseases, revolutionizing healthcare. By relying on data-driven insights, it minimizes human error, explores diverse treatment options, and ultimately saves lives.

Scientific discovery

Conscious AI accelerates progress across scientific disciplines. By providing essential context to models, it expedites experiments, hypothesis development, and data analysis. This leads to quicker and more effective problem-solving, driving innovation in various fields.

Improved communication

A Conscious AI co-pilot enhances communication by bridging cultural and language gaps. This not only promotes smoother interactions but also empowers you to creatively express yourself in different forms, fostering better understanding and collaboration.

Mitigating global challenges

In a world grappling with climate change, resource scarcity, and disaster management, Conscious AI offers a powerful tool. By helping us make more informed decisions, it enables a more efficient and sustainable approach to addressing global challenges. This is crucial for long-term environmental stability and human well-being.

The thought-provoking conversation between Emma and Navin shed light on the potential impact on the world with Conscious AI. Let us jump into understanding more about their perspectives:

An academic and economic perspective on Conscious AI

Navin initiates the discussion by emphasizing his investment approach, focusing on companies that enhance human capabilities and create growth opportunities, rather than replacing jobs.

He envisions a future where meaningful work is abundant, fostering a better quality of life and increased personal freedom. He also believes that successful collaboration between humans and AI will require a genuine, heartfelt approach to all endeavors.

Emma builds on this by highlighting the need for AI models to reflect the diversity of the human population. She acknowledges the existing biases in current data sets, which stem from previous technologies being controlled by a limited demographic.

Emma advocates for a more equitable and inclusive approach to AI development.

Looking ahead, Emma envisions a future where AI models can understand the intricate functions of individual cells, allowing for tailored medical treatments based on predictions of cellular responses to specific drugs. With reliable diffusion models in place, the potential applications for personalized diagnoses become virtually limitless.

Danny quoted William Gibson’s insightful statement: “The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.” This talks about how there exists a parity between developed and underdeveloped nations in terms of access to technology.

Infrastructure drawbacks, and democratization of access

Navin forecasts a future where this trend will surpass the internet, cloud, and mobile revolutions. Previous tech improvements mainly enhanced user experience, but now, for the first time, machines with the ability to think like humans open doors to possibilities in various fields.

The core systems need repair, and those who understand this will lead the improvement. Simplicity comes from refining the basics: development tools, middleware, and the infrastructure itself, paving the way for remarkable applications. Essential groundwork paves the way for innovation.

Despite the heavy investment needed to compete with big players, the economic potential is vast.

Emma notes that AI is making high-end technology more accessible, fueling progress in research and development. Academically, she sees open access to information as crucial, with a call for collaboration between academia and startups.

The talk ended with a focus on data privacy and management. Navin stressed investing in people before technology, emphasizing the right team to create valuable tools. Emma’s parting words advised future creators to consider AI’s role from the start of their ventures.

The possibilities are endless and the responsibilities that come along with it are also immense. As we shape the world for a better tomorrow, ethical considerations are paramount.

The conversation enlightened us to understand how it is important to be people first in everything that we do. The use of technology is no different, at the end of the day humans are benefiting from it. Customer-centricity shapes the way you operate and build a product. The more personalized the experience is, the better.

How can you be a people-first company?

Being people-first is not about having that written down on your landing page but practicing it every step of the way. As the organization grows, the information flow becomes more narrowed, and a barrier is created between teams. The customers are left out of the loop in most of the cases. It is high time we bridge this gap between humans interacting with machines and this is what DevRev is looking to solve for businesses.

To set context, DevRev enables customer and product teams to work closely with each other and have real-time conversations with your customers on a single platform. This enables them to stay productive and efficient while your customers get a personalized experience.

On a unified platform, DevRev brings all your customer, user, and product data together. With the use of AI and analytics, DevRev can be your copilot for support, development, and growth. By breaking down the silos between teams and enabling them to be customer-centric, the voice of your customers is being added to your product.

The core product offerings are an amalgamation of all things business in a tech company. DevRev’s copilot can assist from the first layer of customer support to writing release notes.

Learn more about DevRev and how they can help you.

The conversations at the Effortless conference did not just stop at discussing Conscious AI, we had industry experts discussing the role of AI in data interpretation and decision-making, how the future of work is going to evolve, and how creativity and AI will be the foundation of future digital experiences.