Member of World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid (WLA-CdM), Ricardo Lagos, spoke at a seminar organized by the University of Chile together with Movistar on the impact of technology on the economy, politics and society.
“The technological revolution has an equalizing effect on citizens”, said Lagos, the former President of Chile at the seminar titled Digital Deal: A Technological Transformation for Chile.
“Citizens now see they do not have to wait four years to decide whether they like Mr A or Mr B. They want the leaders they chose to listen to them by leveraging new technologies. Hence, we need to reflect on the political implications this brings”, added Lagos, whose foundation, Fundación Democracia y Desarollo, has numerous projects on how to leverage technology to foster democratic participation of citizens.
The Member of WLA-CdM was joined by Trinidad Jiménez, Director for Global Strategy and Director of Global Strategy for Public Affairs at Telefónica, who spoke on the rollout of artificial intelligence and its societal impact.
Jimenez, who served also as a Foreign Minister of Spain, considered that the development of artificial intelligence and the robotization of production can “make our existence simpler and contribute to progress”, though challenges exist.
“Some sectors fear [these technologies] are a source of inequality or depreciation of life quality because some do not have access to the benefits of digitalisation. They do not have the training, but we need to insist on working with them to bring them opportunities”, Jimenez said.
WLA-CdM is organizing a Policy Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence
Ricardo Lagos will join the upcoming Policy Dialogue Digital Transformation and the Future of Democracy: How can Artificial Intelligence drive Democratic Governance? organized by the WLA-CdM in partnership with Telefónica. Over 40 Members of WLA-CdM and a similar number of experts in artificial intelligence, representatives from the private sector and government officials will join the Policy Dialogue, which will take place on the 21-22 October in Madrid.
