Chile has launched a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) community through a platform inaugurated by Prisa Media Chile (the publishing company of EL PAÍS), in conjunction with the content producer Next Media Content. It is the opening of a new space to debate and discuss the frontiers of this technology, its different uses and the threats and challenges it poses in a world increasingly challenged by digital disruptions. Will have a website dedicated solely to AI news and developments, with diverse perspectives from different fields, such as academia, the public world and private companies. But, in addition, it will be a meeting space to debate through talks and seminars about the alternatives that AI opens up to the challenges of Chile and the world. The platform replicates the experience of Media Rush in Colombiawhich since 2022 already has a similar dissemination space on AI.
It has been a launch at the NOI hotel, in the Vitacura commune in Santiago, in which three exhibitors spoke about the myths and realities of AI. John Atkinson, director of the Master’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence at the Faculty of Engineering and Sciences of the Adolfo Ibáñez University, demolished some of the myths related to this technology. For example, that it will make human work obsolete, that robots will rule the world, or that it could predict the future. In this sense, Atkinson explained that AI will model in the future the human abilities that will be most necessary, such as knowledge of technology, social and emotional capacities, and complex thinking. He also mentioned that among the “real risks” to consider are program bias, misinformation, privacy, the environment, and ethics.
For his part, Ignacio Hidalgo, commercial manager of Mining at Claro Empresas, described how AI can benefit companies through “real-time analysis of sensorized equipment, optimization of resources, risk prevention and fraud detection.” Meanwhile, the head of the Research team of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA), Cristián Buc, pointed out that, for now, “AI is no different from other technological developments”, but that the great challenge of this technology is “trying to simulate human cognition”. In this sense, Buc mentioned the research that is being carried out today to mix neuroscience with AI.
At the event, Ricardo Berdicheski, executive director of Prisa Media Chile, explained that the new Artificial Intelligence community in Chile wants to be a contribution to the debate on how AI around the world is changing the dynamics of society in different dimensions and on the ethical dilemmas associated with these disruptions. Meanwhile, Felipe Márquez, from Next Media Content, mentioned that the creation of the community seeks to “expand the conversation about artificial intelligence in the country.”
In Chile, there are already clear examples of how technology can help to face challenges, both public and from different industries. A food safety application that captures Chile’s agricultural fields via satellite and obtains nationwide statistics on the various plantations in the national territory or a fire detector that manages to identify columns of smoke to early prevent sources of fire that could cause disasters. Both are technologies that are developed on Chilean soil through CENIA, a public-private corporation for technology development and transfer that was born from the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID) in November 2021. Both are applications that could favorably impact their respective sectors and whose progress can be monitored on the new AI platform that will be available this week in Chile.
