AI industry needs more people of colour, says will.i.am at World Government Summit

Programmers with more diverse backgrounds are needed to fix algorithmic biases

Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, concludes the World Government Summit with a talk entitled 'The Emirates: A Family of Solid Roots and a Vibrant Future'. WAM

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, listens to Sheikh Saif. WAM

Najla Bouden, Prime Minister of Tunisia, Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Wavel Ramkalawan, President of Seychelles, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Dr Maeen Saeed, Prime Minister of Yemen and Panagiotis Pikrammenos, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece, at the summit. Photo: Presidential Court

Joko Widodo, President, Government of the Republic of Indonesia speaking at the World Government Summit held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Huda AlHashimi, Deputy Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Strategic Affairs, United Arab Emirates during the interview at the World Government Summit held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Left to Right - Nasser Al-Khater, Chief Executive Officer, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and Najeeb AlAli, Executive Director, Expo 2020 Bureau speaking during the session on Hosting Major Events: An Arab Success Story at the World Government Summit held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Elon Musk and Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, speak on day three of the World Government Summit in Dubai. Mr Al Gergawi is also chairman of the summit. Pawan Singh / The National

Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, speaking during a session called 'Beyond 2023: A Global Outlook'. Pawan Singh / The National

Delegates gather at Madinat Jumeirah for the summit. Pawan Singh / The National

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, presents the World Data Visualisation Award to Lindsey Poulter. Pawan Singh / The National

Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, addresses delegates at the summit. Pawan Singh / The National

National flags displayed at the global event. Pawan Singh / The National

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the event using a video link. Antonie Robertson / The National

People gather for the second day of the summit. Antonie Robertson / The National

Huda Al Hashimi, right, Deputy Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Strategic Affairs, on stage with Waleed Al Ali, left, Secretary General of the Digital School, and Reda Hegazy, Egypt's Minister of Education. Antonie Robertson / The National

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Cop28 President-designate, speaks during a session titled The Road Map to Cop28: Prioritising Action. Pawan Singh / The National

Dr Al Jaber, who is also the UAE's special envoy for climate change, addresses delegates in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Day two of the World Government Summit. Antonie Robertson/The National

Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Digital Economy, AI and Remote Work System, and Nick Clegg, president of Global Affairs at Meta, at the summit. Pawan Singh / The National

Delegates at the World Government Summit held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Mina Al-Oraibi, Editor-in-Chief of The National newspaper, Kersti Kaljulaid, fifth President of Estonia, and Mona Al Marri, vice president of the UAE Gender Balance Council. Pawan Singh / The National

Delegates during the session on Women in Government: Powering the Future. Pawan Singh / The National

President Sheikh Mohamed, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. Photo: Dubai Media Office

Sheikh Mohamed greets Mr El Sisi. Photo: Presidential Court

Mr El Sisi presents the Global Best M-Gov Award to the winners as Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, looks on. Photo: Presidential Court

Mr El Sisi presents the Global Best M-Gov Award. Photo: Presidential Court

Mr El Sisi presents the Global Best M-Gov Award. Photo: Presidential Court

Sky News Arabia's media relations director Faisal bin Huraiz sits alongside Mr El Sisi at the summit. EPA

Francesco La Camera, Director General of International Renewabale Energy Agency, speaks at the summit. Antonie Robertson / The National

Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence at the summit. Antonie Robertson / The National

Mohamed Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer, Masdar. Antonie Robertson / The National

Marco Dunand, CEO and Co-founder, Mercuria Energy Group. Antonie Robertson/The National

Christian Bruch, President and CEO, Siemens Energy. Antonie Robertson / The National

Ahmed Bahrozyan, chief executive of the Public Transport Agency at the RTA. Antonie Robertson / The National

RTA's flyng taxi and sky port project powered by Joby. Virtual simulation of the flying experience. Antonie Robertson / The National

will.i.am speaking during the session on Accelerating Tech: The New Frontier for Policy-making at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Doron Avni, Google VP of Government Affairs and Public Policy Emerging Markets speaking during the session on Accelerating Tech: The New Frontier for Policy-making at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Sujay Jaswa, Founder and Managing Partner, WndrCo speaking during the session on Accelerating Tech: The New Frontier for Policy-making at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the chairman of the World Government Summit, delivers the opening speech. Pawan Singh / The National

Al Gergawi highlighted the rapid change the world has seen in the decade since the event was first held. Pawan Singh / The National

Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, speaks at the summit. Pawan Singh / The National

Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili speaks at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Al Gergawi and Schwab held a joint discussion. Pawan Singh / The National

Delegates standing during the moment of silence for the Turkey – Syria earthquake before the start of World Government Summit in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Delegates at the World Government Summit held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Generative artificial intelligence technologies like ChatGPT will be “fruitful”, but more work is needed to get rid of algorithm biases, pop star will.i.am has said.

The Black Eyed Peas singer and owner of tech start-up FYI, said that the tech field needs more people of colour that can do programming to reduce algorithm biases.

He was speaking on Monday at the first day of the World Government Summit in Dubai, at a panel session titled Accelerating Tech: The New Frontier for Policy-making.

“It’s exciting times especially when it comes to generative AI,” said will.i.am.

“That being said a lot of jobs will be rendered obsolete, but new jobs, careers and industries will sprout.

“It’s going to get more fruitful when other companies release their generative AI. GPT is awesome and they’re the first step in this field.

“It’s going to be a very fruitful playing field for creatives to choose a selection of generative AIs.”

ChatGPT is a chat bot developed by OpenAI that interacts in a conversational way.

So far, it has passed exams for law and business schools, and has almost passed the US medical licensing exam.

Google has launched its own version of the chat bot, called Bard, with other global companies also following suit.

“One [challenge] is algorithm biases and it’s the reason why we do the work philanthropically at our foundation.

“It’s to inspire young kids that come from inner city, people of colour, to write algorithms and train in data because the only people that are going to fix algorithmic biases are people who look like me.”

A 2022 report by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights showed that Dutch tax authorities had used algorithms that mistakenly labelled about 26,000 parents as having committed fraud in their childcare benefit applications.

Many of these parents had an immigration background and were required to pay back large sums.

The report said that the data protection authority had concluded that the processing of data by the AI system in use was discriminatory.

Doron Avni, Google's vice president of government affairs and public policy for emerging markets, was also speaking at the panel.

He said that before Google could officially release Bard, the company needs to make sure they “get the quality right”.

“It' important to get it right. That's why we announced that we are sending it out to trusted testers,” he said.

“Before we launch it out to the public — and this will happen in a few weeks — we want to get it right in the sense of quality, responsibility and being groundedness in real world data.”

He said that governments and private companies should be working together for innovation to happen, but there also need to be clear guidelines.

Mr Avni also spoke about how Google was trying to use AI in ways that could benefit humanity.

“We're doing some collaboration with governments and using AI to make the world a better place. We have flood forecasting tools that use complex AI models,” he said.

“We're also sending texts on floods to people on the ground who could be affected.”