The five-day meeting starting on Monday in Davos will explore how to restart growth, harness new technologies and strengthen social and economic resilience, according to the World Economic Forum. Nearly 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries, including 350 government leaders, will participate in the global meeting.
NDTV spoke to Bob Mumgaard, CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Abhishek Awadhiya of SimplyAI and Akshay Saxena, founder of Avanti Fellows – people who have real opinions about where all this is going.
This has been a year of real crisis around the world, be it conflict, concerns over sustainable development, and concerns over a range of issues, not least concerns over artificial intelligence (AI) and the future of climate.
nuclear fusion energy
Mr. Mumgaard began by giving an overview of the future of nuclear plants in terms of fusion energy and safe operation.
“It’s completely different from existing nuclear energy. It’s the opposite. In fusion, you’re combining lighter elements to create heavier ones just like the Sun works. That means there’s no meltdown, no connection to weapons, And there is no long-lived nuclear waste,” said Mr. Mamgaard, who is tackling one of the most interesting aspects of clean energy.
He explained, “The issue right now is that we still have to develop the technology and deploy it. We’re just building the first power plants. Right now, we’re about halfway to building the first prototype outside of Boston.” NDTV.
Mr. Mumgaard said his company was spun out of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
“We started building this machine about three years ago. In about two years, we will turn the machine on, and it will be a turning point in the world where we will have fusion on an industrial scale for the first time. Electricity being created by people Is,” said the CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
On the issue of cost, which will be a key factor in producing clean energy, Mr Mumgaard said the goal with all new sustainable energy is to produce energy in a way that the world can enable growth, meaning its cost Should be less.
“And one of the great things about technologies like fusion is that you’re using all these other technologies that have come before, you’re combining them. And so you’re getting cost benefits that come with new ways of manufacturing.” Come, you’ve got the cost advantage that comes from the simulation and the use of AI and fusion and so we think that could lead to a lower cost energy source, we still need to build it and get realizations. ‘ Working right now,” he added.
AI and workplace disruption
Abhishek Awadiya of SimplyAI said he strongly believes that AI will work together with humanity and the workforce to increase productivity.
“A lot of our work at SimplyAI is focused on automation – we strongly believe that in the near term, all these AI tools are going to increase the productivity of the workforce across a variety of tasks and roles. That’s very important for all players really. We have to make that argument very clear, very concise for people at large, so that the fear factor around AI is actually replaced with positivity and hope,” Mr Awadiya said.
On jobs disappearing due to AI in the workplace, he said, “Well, as the World Economic Forum reports, by 2030 there will be about 90 million jobs that will be replaced, but 170 million more will be created.” So in my view, it’s similar to what happened in the Industrial Revolution. Jobs will be replaced, which are repetitive, low value in nature, with higher value jobs moving up the value chain for people. That’s what’s going to unlock productivity for humanity at large.”
Education and the future of AI
Akshay Saxena, founder of Avanti Fellows, cautioned against moving too fast with AI in education.
“I think there are some things to be really careful about, especially when you look at it in the context of a country like India, where we already have huge inequality that is increasing. One is, as Abhishek said “The nature of work will change, which means you will have to work almost with an AI co-pilot,” Mr. Saxena said.
“What are our schools doing to prepare kids to do this? And how many kids have experience with this? Because most kids in India don’t own cell phones or have access to the Internet in any meaningful way. And What does this mean for our colleges? Because we have the largest engineering workforce we produce, but also the least employable engineering workforce,” he said. “So how do we quickly remodel our engineering schools, technical schools to make graduates really ready for AI? And if you don’t move quickly on these fronts, it will be very difficult for the youth of India. “Could be devastating.”
In Davos, India’s participation aims to strengthen partnerships, attract investments and position the country as a global leader in sustainable development and technological innovation. This time India is sending five Union Ministers, three Chief Ministers and ministers of several other states to WEF.
