Ana Lucia: On the path to becoming an influential voice in the AI industry

Artificial intelligence has arrived and despite grave concerns and warnings of our extinction from experts all around the world, tech giants are already in a multibillion dollar arms race spending billions ramping up their AI software capabilities exponentially.

Before this new technology potentially causes irreparable harm to the fabric of our global society, it will take an extremely powerful figure to lead the charge for responsible artificial intelligence use. Someone who has experience dealing with billion dollar corporations and government agencies and who has a track record of stellar results both fiscally and socially. Someone like world renowned CEO at Swiss Financial Engineering AG, Ana Lucia Lind. Lucia is classified as a global citizen amongst her peers and is a Caribbean-Colombian-German.

In 2019, Lucia made waves as one of the earliest voices warning us of the extreme dangers of artificial intelligence at the Sarajevo Economic Forum in Bosnia and Herzegovina where she discussed the 4th Industrial Revolution and the significant impact of fast space technology and AI. “Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool that can change and save millions of lives. We just need the proper regulation in place. We are on the cusp of the 5th industrial revolution and the consequences that artificial intelligence poses aren’t hypothetical. They are very real, they are here and we must act now to prevent a potential extinction of our race.Governmental agencies all around the world need to place strict regulations around its use for military, financial technology, education and even social media," Lucia said.

Most recently even Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk restated his concerns about artificial intelligence in Paris at a global tech conference hosted by Viva Technology. "There is a real danger for digital super intelligence having negative consequences," said Musk, at the Paris VivaTech event. "I am in favour of AI regulation," he added.

After Lucia’s electric speech raising concerns about the mass roll out of AI technology and pledging that she will never invest more than 25 per cent of her asset management company in the technology, Lucia now looks to use her platform and her massive portfolio to enact safeguards and actual change with the public interest in mind. Lucia also gave a speech at Davos Economic Forum 2023 advocating for responsible AI use as it pertains to crypto currency, where her extensive financial knowledge and governmental advisory experience were on full display.

Lucia has spent years sharing the stage and sharing her ideas with royalty, powerful executives and prominent politicians with people like Sheik Ali Bin Alwaleed Al -Thani, a board member of QFZA ( Qatar Free Zone Authority) or Ali Rashid Al-Mohannadi, executive general manager and chief operation officer at QNB (Qatar National Bank). Lucia is reportedly reaching out to her elite network of many of the world’s most influential leaders and urging them to pledge responsible use of artificial intelligence and publicly agree to certain safeguards.

Lucia’s assets management and financial services company is one of the world leaders trading in gold, oil, diamonds and many other natural resources dubbing her the 'oil and gas queen' amongst executives in the industry. Her success is why dozens of governmental agencies around the world have hired Lucia to consult for crucial infrastructure projects development. Lucia plans how to execute these projects, is in charge of the engineering procurement and construction, the financing for these projects and ensures the use of sustainable materials. Lucia has revitalised communities for millions of people.

Currently in production, artificial intelligence is being designed for companionship, question answering, utility, and creativity. There are also many experimental AI’s in multi-step task agents and even hyper personalisation according to Ted Benson, founder of Steamship, MIT Ph.D., and Sil Hamilton, researcher of emergent AI behaviour at McGill University.

The AI industry currently has a value of $100 billion and is expected to increase 20 fold by 2030 to over $2 trillion according to a recent report published on Statista. Many other surveys by accredited sources have estimated similar figures. Over 100 million people signed up for Chat GPT in its first month, crushing the previous record of 20 million held by TikTok. 50 per cent of AI experts predict there is a 10 per cent chance it could end humanity because of its insatiable desire for our attention that corporations programme, according to Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin the two co-founders of the Center of Humane Technology. This presents a steep challenge, but one that Lucia is clearly capable of conquering.

— Vasujit Kalia is a freelance writer.

• KT Network