Heated Discussion on AI Use at ATxSG Conference in Singapore

At the ATxSG conference in Singapore, Secretary of State for Kingdom Relations and Digitization Van Huffelen engaged in a heated discussion with prominent figures at Microsoft and Nvidia. She compared the use of AI to an untested car on the road and called the development “quite terrifying”, according to The Register.
The State Secretary was part of a discussion panel on the use of AI, where she took the role of the skeptic, while Microsoft Asia President Ahmed Mazhari and Nvidia VP Keith Strier spoke positively about Big Tech’s deployment of AI.

Rules versus Principles

The use of AI is currently a hot topic, with many warnings and cautionary tales, especially when it comes to generative AI. Van Huffelen made her stance clear: the government should draw up clear regulations to determine how technology can be made reliable. In contrast, Mazhari argued that Microsoft had already created AI principles around 2016-17.
Van Huffelen then asked why OpenAI, supported by Microsoft, does not meet that requirement. Mazhari responded that there may be a need for international regulation. This is a well-known line of thought, with CEOs Sundar Pichai of Google and Sam Altman of OpenAI advocating for it. However, these parties often want to participate in the formulation of this legislation.
The State Secretary noted that even with the current rules, it is simply not practical to refuse data sharing on Big Tech products. In addition, it is only possible to see through lengthy documentation what happens to data. “If you really want to protect people, you have to make sure that only the data that people want is used.”

AI Regulation and Car Industry Rules

The conversation then shifted to a comparison between AI legislation and rules that the car industry has to comply with. Van Huffelen likened AI to an untested car on the road. Mazhari responded to this with the statement that cars are still coming onto the market despite thousands of deaths per day. “If we took cars out of the world, I don’t know what would happen to human productivity.”
“Are you saying people are dying because of generative AI? I don’t know what to say,” said the state secretary.
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