The IMF, on alert due to AI: "Without safeguards, the risk may outweigh the opportunities"

BarcelonaThe main international economic institutions have taken good note of the alarms regarding the safety of artificial intelligence that have been unleashed during the summer. The latest to demonstrate this has been the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva. In an intervention during the annual meetings of the monetary institution and the World Bank, which are being held this week in Bangkok, Georgieva has called for regulation and oversight of the technology by the main industry players. "Without safeguards, risks may outweigh opportunities," the director stated.

In a round table in which Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic –the company that created Claude, now on the verge of one of the largest stock market debuts in United States history–, also participated, Georgieva noted that, to ensure a good application of AI, "above all, ethical foundations are needed." "And I am not sure if, as a society, we have them," she added. However, she acknowledged that "productivity increases" linked to artificial intelligence are already starting to be noticed, although they are not yet being registered "on a transformative scale."

The managing director expressed herself in line with the latest World Economic Outlook report, published by the IMF itself. In the document, the entity recognized that investment in artificial intelligence has "provided momentum to global activity and supported international trade," thanks to massive financing of infrastructure and hardware. Nevertheless, the International Monetary Fund experts also warned that "it remains to be seen whether this positive demand shock will transform into a positive supply shock in the long term."

AI, a Formula 1

In her speech, Georgieva also discussed the terms under which the industry must regulate itself, and how administrations must monitor it. The problem is the dynamism of AI evolution: "How do we put guardrails on a sector that is moving so fast?" The IMF leader, in this sense, has compared large language models to a Formula 1 race. "I have the utmost respect for the industry, I believe it is bringing a great gift to humanity. But if in the middle of the race the car runs people over, perhaps the gift is not worth it," she reflected. In this sense, she has put the focus on the responsibility of technology companies, given that "governments cannot regulate something that moves at this speed" because, she says, "they do not know enough about it."

In line with Anthropic's recent strategy, Clark took up Georgieva's gauntlet and returned it multiplied: "It is worse than she thinks. It is like a Formula 1 car, at night and without brakes." For the co-founder of Anthropic, before setting regulatory barriers it is necessary to "establish a common standard" for AI models. And this responsibility belongs, according to the tech giant, to the administrations. "We test our systems, we share the results of the tests, all the information, and we do it voluntarily. This should not be voluntary," concluded Clark.