Artificial intelligence will add $10tn to global economy in next decade – IBM CEO

Artificial intelligence (AI) will add up to $10tn to the global economy in the next decade, Arvind Krishna, chairman and CEO of IBM has said.

Greater adoption of AI in the UAE could also add up to $200bn in productivity gains by 2030, Krishna told Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Teleworking Applications, at the World Government Summit 2022, official news agency WAM reported.

The leader of the US tech giant tipped AI to transform the world economy after warning that the planet lacks skilled people to keep up with the pandemic-induced disruption caused to workplaces everywhere.

“I fundamentally believe that AI offers over $10tn of productivity to the world. If you think about GDP increase, this could be anywhere between 10, 20, or 30 per cent. But we have to do this carefully, we have to harness the skills and deploy it in the right manner,” Krishna said, speaking during a one-on-one panel ‘The Next Big Merger: Governments and Technology’. 

Omar bin Sultan said that the UAE’s talent pool will be boosted by India’s decision to set up the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Abu Dhabi.

Last year, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), a graduate-level research university focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), launched an executive programme, designed to assist the UAE’s government and business elite in unlocking the potential of AI to ensure smart management, increased efficiencies, and enhanced productivity.

Read: Abu Dhabi’s AI university launches executive programme for UAE govt and business leaders

Located in Masdar City, MBZUAI offers Master of Science, Msc, and PhD level programmes in key areas of AI such as machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing.

Read: Video: Abu Dhabi launches world’s first AI university