# FII: Eric Schmidt - Co-founder & his wife, Wendy, Schmidt Sciences; Former CEO & Chairman,Google,KBE

*FII Institute* · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nkm4dB6j9c

## Summary

In this short interview at the FII conference, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt discusses how governments balance competing to win in AI with regulating its safety, and why he is more worried about missing AI's opportunities than its dangers. He reflects on failing to foresee social media's harms, warns that AI will transform warfare by making cheap drones dominant over expensive weapons, and argues Saudi Arabia is well placed to become a major AI hub thanks to its energy, land, and investment commitment. He closes by saying AI assistants will profoundly boost human productivity while human connection remains unchanged.

## Key points

- Schmidt says governments want to win in AI while also protecting their populations from misuse, and must both invest and regulate.
- He compares AI to a generational wave like the PC, internet, and social media revolutions, taking 10 to 15 years to play out.
- He is most concerned about missing the opportunity of a polymath-like intelligence that could boost education, medicine, wealth, and climate efforts.
- He admits he and his peers did not foresee social media enabling tribalism and misinformation, and says AI must be gotten ahead of.
- He favors free speech for humans but not for computers, saying he wants to hear from actual humans.
- He argues cheap drones can take out expensive tanks, undermining military assumptions, and predicts military structures will be very different in a decade.
- He says Saudi Arabia has abundant energy, land, and commitment, and could host the huge data centers the world will need.
- He believes AI assistants will make each person better at their work, and teachers with AI will be better than teachers without.
- He says human contact and connection will remain with us for the rest of humanity even as computers run much of the world.

## Notes

### Governments and AI
- Schmidt says governments care about two things: winning in AI and the safety of their populations, including whether it can be misused.
- They must both invest and regulate, and some handle this balance better than others.

### Fears About AI
- He acknowledges fears about jobs and misuse have some truth; models have dangers embedded in them.
- The industry uses guardrails to stop models answering dangerous questions like how to kill oneself or others.
- He frames AI as a generational wave, like the PC, internet, and social media revolutions, taking 10 or 15 years.
- It will change medicine, science, conflict, information, and misinformation, mostly for the better.

### Missing the Opportunity
- His biggest concern is missing the opportunity: an intelligence like a polymath aligned with you is a major change in human productivity.
- AI can benefit education, medicine, economic efficiency, wealth generation, strengthening the middle class, lifting people from poverty, and climate change, if done correctly.

### Lessons From Social Media
- He admits he and nearly all his peers did not foresee social media's harms, blaming the bubble they lived in with similar education, politics, and Western background.
- Social media enabling tribalism and misinformation was not the plan.
- He has written one book and has another coming out in November on getting ahead of AI's impact on human life.
- He raises questions about children having a nonhuman best friend at age five, and states he favors free speech for humans but not for computers.

### AI and Warfare
- Almost no AI is used on the battlefield now, which he thinks is good.
- AI will make war more targeted but also easier, and war will be changed by it.
- Inexpensive drones can take out expensive tanks; drone beats tank.
- Assumptions about aircraft carriers, submarines, army bases, and tanks are being undermined, and military structures will be very different in a decade.

### Saudi Arabia's Position
- Saudi Arabia is well positioned: abundant energy, abundant land, and a strong commitment to building.
- The world will need gigawatts and gigawatts of data centers, which could be in Saudi.
- The internet is borderless, so work can be done there while people live elsewhere.
- The key is commitment, and the government is willing to put large amounts of money behind successful investments; he says it is good business and good strategically.

### AI in Daily Life and Education
- Society is just at the beginning of AI implementation.
- He imagines a producer's and director's functions handled by a highly personalized AI assistant, making each person better at what they do.
- AI transforms every industry including education; teachers with AI will be better teachers than teachers without.
- Human contact and connection will remain for the rest of humanity, while computers run much of the world around us.

## Transcript

[00:01] Google's rise to becoming the most powerful company in the world is gripping and all-encompassing. >> The assistance around us, the knowledge that we have at our fingertips, literally will be profound. It'll be a very, very powerful world.

[00:22] For a decade, Eric Schmidt operated as its CEO and afterwards as the executive chairman. Now he works on a series of projects and investments as well as advising governments on applications of AI. Mr. Schmid, welcome and thank you very much for the interview. >> Thank you for having me. >> You advise governments on the implementation of the AI. What are they most interested in? >> Well, governments are concerned about two things. One, they want to win, but they're also concerned about safety for their populations and can it be misused? You have to solve both problems. They have to both invest but they also have to regulate and they're trying to sort it out. Some are better than others. >> There is huge excitement about AI at

[01:04] this conference. However, when you leave, you have the feeling that people are actually really scared. Scared about their jobs, scared about AI going into the wrong hands. How valid are those fears? >> Uh there's some truth to them. Um the models as they get smarter, if you will, have dangers embedded in them. The industry puts what are called guardrails on them to try to prevent them from answering questions like how do I kill myself? How do I kill somebody else? Things which are obviously dangerous. So governments have trust and safety programs to do that. Remember that this is a wave that is a generational wave. It will go through it will take 10 or 15 years. The PC revolution was like that.

[01:46] The internet revolution was like that. Social media was like that. AI will be the same. We're just at the beginning of the changes that AI will bring in medicine, in science, in conflict, in information, in misinformation, in what you do and what I do. It will all change mostly for the better. >> Where are you most concerned about when it comes to AI and SAI? >> I'm actually concerned about us missing the opportunity. And the reason is that the arrival of an intelligence that's sort of like a polymath, one of these sort of brilliant minds that is aligned with you, that works with you, is a major change in human productivity and efficiency. And we have to harness that power. And we harness it for education,

[02:29] right? for medicine, for the efficiency of economies, for generating wealth, for making the middle class stronger, from taking people from absolute poverty into the middle class, for climate change. All of that is bene benefits from AI if it's done correctly. >> You were at the helm of Google when social media came along. Did you see back then the negative implications that we are so aware of now? >> I did not and I can confidently say that almost all of my peers did not see it either. Um when I think about it, I think about it in terms of the bubble that we live in. All of us are similar. We have a certain level of education, a certain set of political views. We come from the west. And I think we did not

[03:10] understand how these incredibly important tools which benefited many many people could also be misused. I think that the fact that social media has enabled tribalism and misinformation was not in the plan. That's not what we designed, but it happened and now we have to address it. How can we learn from this example when it comes now to the AI revolution? >> Well, I've written one book and I have another book coming out in in November on the same subject. We have to get ahead of AI and its impact on human life. When your child or your grandchild has as its best friend a nonhuman actor, right, a voice on a computer and they're five years old, what does that do for development? Should we allow it? How

[03:53] should it behave? Children are very important. um all sorts of issues around messages and identification. I personally am in free in favor of free speech for humans but not for computers. I want to hear from humans and their voices. I don't want to hear what computers think humans think. I want to hear from actual humans. Those are simple principles. Would not be difficult to write them down. >> You have spoken about implementation of AI in warfare just now. How much of AI is currently used on the battlefield? almost none is used on the battlefield and most of that I think is good. Battles are very rough. It's very tough. AI has every reason to in my view to become an even more lethal solution in

[04:36] warfare. And the wars that I have seen are horrific. So unfortunately war will be changed by AI too. Um in some sense it's good because it'll become more targeted but it's bad because it'll become easier. But do you feel that investments in warfare a government should also change and be more adapted to the new world? >> Well, I do because the simple simple answer is that drones which are inexpensive can take out a tank, right? So tanks are very expensive. Drones are very cheap. Tank versus drone, the drone wins. So all of these assumptions that militaries have made about the importance of large things like aircraft carriers and submarines and army bases and so forth and tanks and other very exotic weapons uh which you see in

[05:22] America all the time are are essentially being undermined. All those assumptions are being undermined by this new technology as it rolls out. I'm confident that in a decade the the the structures of militaries will be very different for that reason. Here in Saudi, we have a sense that there is a lot of pushing towards leadership of this AI revolution. How well is the kingdom placed to do so? >> Saudi is very well positioned if it does a whole bunch of things. Saudi has abundant energy, obviously, abundant land, and a strong commitment to building things. U the world is going to need gigawatts and gigawatts of data centers. These are very, very large data centers. They could be in Saudi and Saudi has good enough connectivity that

[06:04] Saudi could be one of the places not the only place but one of the places where AI technology is invented and developed often by people who are in other countries using them. The key to this remember is that the internet is borderless in that sense and the work can be done here while the people live in the countries where they are are from. It's a good outcome. >> You did say that a few things would have to be done like what? Well, the most important thing is a commitment to do it. And the good news about this government is this government is willing to put large amounts of money behind successful investments. One thing I have said to the Saudis this trip is those investments will be very, very good

[06:42] financially. It's good business. It's good strategically. And frankly, it's good for a Saudi as it's trans goes through its transformation to become a world leader to be at this level. They need to do this to get to where they want to be. >> Here at FI8, as we said, there is so much excitement about the AI. Realistically, where are we as a society with implementation of AI? >> We're just at the beginning. Um, you as a consumer see it in the way the social media apps work and Google works and so forth. But I want you to think differently. Today in your show, you have a producer and a director and a whole team that helps you. Why is that not all those functions not handled by your AI assistant that knows exactly

[07:25] what's going on? Helps you become even better than you already are. Each of us will become better at what we do because we'll have these assistants and these assistants will be with our permission highly personalized to what we do and what we care about. >> Do you feel that educational system is prepared to teach an entire new mindset of this future work? What I would say is that AI transforms every industry including education. Um it's obvious that teachers will be important. Teachers with AI will be better teachers than teachers without. >> And last question, how important with all the AI systems we have, is it still to sit down and talk like we are doing here today, like all these people are

[08:08] doing here today at FI? >> I think that human contact, human connection is going to be with us for the rest of humanity. Um eventually the computers will run a whole bunch of stuff while we're still talking to each other. Um so I think human behavior is not going to change very much but the assistance around us the knowledge that we have at our fingertips literally um will be profound. Think about what you know now from your use of Google right compared to before Google and now imagine when you have an assistant that's using Google or from Google that can really uh upcharge what you do. It'll be a very very powerful world. >> Thank you very much indeed. >> Thank you.