When it comes to AI and the future, the focus is often on how societies can adapt to technological developments, to the detriment of how people themselves can influence the development of technology for the better. Our co-founder Ottó Werschitz is participating in a workshop at Corvinus University on “Artificial Intelligence for the Future”, which aims to answer the question of what kind of future we want, what role artificial intelligence will play in it, and what steps would be needed to make it happen.
The research is being led by Lilla Vicsek and Alexandra Köves, associate professors at Corvinus University of Budapest, with the help of several colleagues and the participation of a wide range of representatives from academia, civil society and business.
The aim of the workshop is to find out what AI professionals would like to see in 2060, and to explore what steps they would consider important to make such a future a reality.
The research is not only interesting in terms of its topic and purpose, but also in terms of the so-called “backcasting” methodology used. Backcasting differs fundamentally from forecasting methodologies in that it reverses the direction of the process linking the future to the present. While forecasting extrapolates trends from the present to the future, backcasting starts from the future and moves towards the present. In other words, what is the vision of the future that we want and what choices we need to make in the present and near future to achieve it.
We are delighted and honoured that in addition to working on everyday business applications of AI, we are involved in such academic work. We are looking forward to the results of the research!
