‘Opportunities are everywhere’

Microsoft recently organised the conference ‘AI in the National Interest’. What was the most exciting part of the day?

It was perhaps the first time that so many AI stakeholders met in Sweden, both the private and public sectors together with politicians. I found it exciting to experience the sense of seriousness with which many now view AI. There is an understanding of how important it is for Sweden to be part of this development and not stand on the sidelines.

What do you think are the greatest opportunities AI offers?

Sometimes it can be difficult to grasp AI’s potential to transform our society in the short term using algorithms to automate the work we already do today but also how it can do things we humans are not good at, such as processing large amounts of data. What is also interesting is AI controlling our physical systems, for instance transport, energy or, in the future, robots. Opportunities are everywhere.

What do you think is required for a Swedish AI miracle?

This is a bit tricky to answer as different parts of our society have different needs. If you are an AI start-up, you need access to capital, data and expertise. If you are an established large company, you need other things like internal control and governance of AI. As for the public sector, it might be how to fund shared AI systems. On top of that, Sweden as a nation is traditionally optimised to be a decentralised society but perhaps not optimised for innovation and AI, where more centralised control may be needed. There are many things we need to look at.

Daniel Akenine, National Technology Officer at Microsoft and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, was interviewed by Ebba Berg Gorgén, Consultant at New Republic. ‘Three Quick Questions…’ is a series of interviews conducted by New Republic.