Respond.io (formerly Rocketbots) CEO and Chairman of the AI Society of Hong Kong, Gerardo Salandra, lead a panel on the topic of AI’s role in Government, Startups, and Society with 2 major figures in the AI scene at the World AI Show Singapore 2018.

Gerardo was joined by a Hong Kong Science and Technology Park leader, and Singapore Startup Accelerator mentor to discuss AI and it’s role in a multitude of scenarios, where AI is going, and it’s place in different sectors. Crystal Fok, Associate Director of Robotics at HKSTP started off the panel with a brilliant insight into the Hong Kong government’s recent HK$50 billion investment into AI at the science park. HKSTP is a government-funded entity that will head the SAR’s efforts to improve technology throughout the government. Important topics were covered by Fok, like the concern of governments with data security and privacy, and it’s stalwart protection of resident data. Likely Hong Kong is not the only government with this concern, and so it should shed light on the actions most government around the world may take when it comes to data security and AI. 

The SG Innovate representative spoke in length of the aspect that AI has to Society, it’s impact on Societal culture, and other aspect that AI has when concerning daily human interactions with technology. 

However the topic that stole the panel’s attention was the topic of Governments and whether it should regulate artificial intelligence. Gerardo gave insights that the last world economic forum’s Industry 4.0 conference was the second least attended of the event. If governments are taking little care into the aspects of AI’s ability to take jobs, automate processes, and collect vast amounts of data, then there is quite a reason to be scared for the future of industries as a whole and the leaps they may take to leverage AI, and at what cost.