LONDON: Controlling key technologies such as artificial intelligence does little to bridge the divide between richer and poorer nations, hindering the potential to benefit all, according to Hatem Dowidar, group chief executive officer of e&.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Dowidar highlighted the need for a shift in mindset among regulators to “close the divide rather than widen it.”

He said that the challenge lay less in countries lacking the expertise or resources to build AI infrastructure and more in governance and data sovereignty issues, which often required external handling.

“We do have a couple of cases now where agreements have been done that allow for data to be handled securely,” he said. “In other markets, there are a few lighthouse cases that allows this to happen, and actually some of the hyperscalers — Microsoft and AWS — are working on creating these ring-fenced sovereign clouds that can serve countries from another country while really preserving that integrity and sovereignty.”

Dowidar explained that while many countries lacked access to AI know-how and connectivity, the energy-intensive process of training AI models presented perhaps a more significant barrier.

“So there is a possibility where you can have these central areas, where we can serve the countries that don’t have the massive energy needed to teach the models, but then we need to relax the AI data sovereignty issues,” he said.

Participating in the panel, “AI: Lifting All Boats,” Brad Smith, vice-chair and president of Microsoft, discussed his company’s push toward a decentralized approach to AI development. He pointed to Microsoft’s $1 billion investment, in partnership with Abu Dhabi-based AI firm G42, to establish a data center in Kenya as an example of such efforts.

“It is hard to spend a billion dollars to support 50 million people in Kenya alone, but we’re doing it,” he said. “But the real question is, can we grow that and can we reach Rwanda? We can, but only under one circumstance that you get Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda and Kenya and Ethiopia, that you get the East African Community to decide together that they will all use that data center.”

He called this type of development “a data zone, just like we have free trade zones that will get us halfway there.”

However, Smith emphasized that the private sector alone could not shoulder the burden of such investments. Local governments and international institutions were essential to “kickstart the demand” if regions such as East Africa were to bridge the divide and compete on the global stage.

The panelists also criticized the US for its protectionist approach, particularly the imposition of export controls on competitive nations such as China.

While acknowledging that American technology currently held a significant edge, they argued that these restrictive policies were fueling rival nations to “catch up in various ways, partly by driving them to develop more frugal and innovative models.”

DUBAI: Artificial intelligence is a big topic of discussion at this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, which is being held under the central theme of “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.”

A panel on Wednesday titled “Cutting through Cyber Complexity,” brought together experts from the private and public sectors to discuss the increasingly complex world of cybersecurity in an age dominated by technology.

Wired magazine’s global editorial director Katie Drummond, who moderated the panel, set the stage saying that “factors like AI and emerging technology, geopolitical instability, supply chain vulnerability and talent shortages” combined make cybersecurity considerations more complicated, potentially “exacerbating inequity across the board.” 

As governments push the adoption of technology, they must also ensure that the devices and platforms people use are safe, said Malaysia’s minister of digital, Gobind Singh Deo.

Last year, for example, Malaysia implemented the Cyber Security Act, establishing regulatory standards for the country’s cyber defenses, amended its data protection laws and introduced data-sharing legislation, he said.

The most important thing now, in this digital revolution, is speed, according to Oscar Lopez, Spain’s minister for digital transformation and civil service. 

In addition to regulation, which is devised and implemented in conjunction with the EU, Spain is investing in infrastructure, skills and education, he added.

With 66 percent of organizations being concerned about AI’s impact on cybersecurity, according to WEF’s latest “Global Security Outlook” report, there is an urgent need for governments and businesses to build systems to counter cyberattacks. 

Hoda Al-Khzaimi, associate vice provost for research translation and entrepreneurship at New York University Abu Dhabi, highlighted that cyber attackers have access to information and opportunity as well as the agility to build platforms and increase the threat level of attacks.

However, she added, there is room for improvement in the structures required to counter those attacks as evidenced by the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in 2021. 

Like Lopez, Al-Khzaimi emphasized the need for speed in building faster and more agile structures, saying that attackers take seconds to decimate a system, which will take months and years to rebuild. 

This is partly because “larger companies are stuck with inertia and that’s really what’s causing all the issues,” said Jay Chaudhry, CEO, chairman and founder of IT security company Zscaler.

“Hackers have no inertia,” he said.

Chaudhry said organizations and governments need to move away from old technologies like firewalls and VPNs to a zero-trust cybersecurity architecture, which is based on the principle of not trusting anyone — even those inside the system or organization, unlike a firewall.

“Technology needs to move,” and it is not necessarily the government’s job to push it; if anything, “over-regulation can stop things,” he added. 

The CEO and co-founder of industrial cybersecurity technology firm Dragos, Robert Lee, echoed the sentiment.

He said: “We need a lot more (of an) approach to harmonization of regulation, especially for multinational (companies).”

Lee also presented an alternate view to the adoption of emerging technologies and automation, highlighting the perils of digitization.

“Some of these private companies are so excited to take that automation journey … that they really don’t understand some of the systems they’re putting in place,” he said.

“This means that when something goes wrong, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint the cause if the company hasn’t invested in the right systems ahead of time,” he added. 

Lee said that there is a lot of conversation around “the next big thing” and AI, but “you have no idea how little is being done correctly. The basics do work. It’s just (that) a lot of companies aren’t doing the basics.”