The Irish Times view on AI: at a defining moment

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New technologies tend to reach a series of defining moments as they move from the drawing board to reality. Progress is rarely smooth, the most recent example being the bursting…

New technologies tend to reach a series of defining moments as they move from the drawing board to reality. Progress is rarely smooth, the most recent example being the bursting of the dot.com bubble in March 2000. And now artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be at a defining moment which will do much to shape its next phase of development.

The fall of Nvidia’s former chief executive, Jensen Huang, reads like the plot of an airport novel. But behind the drama are some serious issues. Nvidia is a key player in the AI industry and a vital provider of funds right across the sector.

Huang’s fall underlines the cult of personality in the sector and it reliance on a small number of chief executives who have been free to act largely unencumbered by regulation, as the US tries to outpace China in this new era of technology. They act purely in the interest of themselves and their companies. And the wider dangers posed by the development of AI – to jobs, economies and perhaps even society at large – mean this it not appropriate.

A regulatory regime is thus urgently needed. The EU has its AI act but the essence of a successful regulatory structure would lie in international cooperation. Perhaps the victory of the Democrats in the US midterm elections and the clear doubts of the American public about the technology and its associated data centres may lead to some change. The free-wheeling approach of the Trump administration leaves far too much power and control with a few senior tech leaders.

Market scepticism – or at least increased questioning– of the high valuation of AI companies has been evident in recent weeks. A key test comes on Thursday with the flotation of Anthropic, one of the key AI model developers, with a target valuation of some $1.4 trillion. Two days earlier, Nvidia will announce its latest results. These events will determine investor sentiment in the short term.

No one doubts the potential power of AI and its extraordinary potential.

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