Yanis Ben Amor—former Executive Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and head of the global initiative Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work—shared an optimistic view of the opportunities artificial intelligence brings in an interview with the Deputy Chief Editor of TO BHMA International Edition, Cheryl Novak, at the Delphi Economic Forum X last week.
Ben Amor admitted in his interview at the Delphi Economic Forum X that his initial reaction to AI and large language models (LLMs) was one of caution. He was concerned, he said, that students might use these tools to bypass the learning process and cheat on assignments. At the time, he feared AI would prevent him from accurately assessing the effectiveness of his teaching.
However, his perspective has undergone a dramatic shift. “I made a complete 180,” he said. Today, he is the founder of Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work, an international initiative that seeks to redefine the role of AI across key sectors of society: healthcare, education, ethics, macroeconomics, and the legal system. The initiative operates in the United States, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia.
According to Yanis Ben Amor, Greece is among the countries with the financial capacity to support artificial intelligence initiatives. However, he expressed concern over whether there is a true awareness of the scale of changes that AI is bringing.
Referring to a recent study indicating that the majority of senior executives in Greece appear not to grasp the transformative role of the technology, he warned that this lack of understanding could hinder AI-related investments in the country. As a result, he cautioned, Greece risks producing a workforce that, in just a few years, may find itself equipped with outdated skills.
