Prioritizing environmental and human values in AI-driven research: an interview with Professor Lakhmi Jain

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In times of the New Normal empirical data is changing rapidly. A scientific conference becomes not only a way and place of quick and relevant scientific opinions, reflection, and results exchange, but a sort of bifurcation point. Professor Lakhmi is the founder of one of the oldest and most prominent conferences in the digital science world ‒ KES International (http://www.kesinternational.org/). He is a guru of digital and AI-driven research and the author of more than 500 books, book chapters, and research articles.

– Professor Lakhmi, how could you describe the evolution of scientific conferences in the New Normal?

– Conferences are not just meant to present papers and get them published in the conference proceedings. Conferences provide the professional community the opportunities for networking and publications. It is easier to disseminate, transfer, share, and brokerage of knowledge through conferences. Nowadays, we can see rapid changes and transdisciplinarity of research.

I wish that KES International will continue providing a professional community the opportunities for publications, knowledge exchange, cooperation, and teaming for many more years to come.

 – What type of research do we need more in our digitalized and AI-driven world, in times of permanent crisis?

– Current crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic and conflicts in many countries have demonstrated that peace and happiness can only be achieved if we instill “One Earth, One Family” in the human mind through education.

Unfortunately, the effects of Covid-19 are still being felt for the fourth year in succession. There are continuing problems such as heatwaves, fires, floods, and so on in the world.

It is obvious from the above that we need to include environmental and human values in our research.

We cannot ignore the research in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). There is tremendous interest worldwide the Generative AI. It is important to investigate the effects of Generative AI on society since AI can create/present false news, AI can manipulate data and information.

God Father of AI, Dr. Jeffrey Hinton, issued a warning about Chat GPT as below: “AI is becoming too smart. He regretted his contributions to AI”.

 – You have mentioned the total falsification of the news. Media use AI totally and is totally transgressive.

– Technology driven research is a key for media. New paradigms are coming every day. Artificial Intelligence-based techniques are in use today. It is not easy to predict the future but I believe that generative Artificial Intelligence will play a key role in the future.

– Nowadays, is the total Westernization of science changing?

– Western countries have made notable contributions to science and technology. In spite of tremendous advances in science and technology, there are conflicts in one form or another form, in every country in the world. It shows that the present advances in science and technology lag one very important component, that is, humanity. Obviously, we and particularly the West have failed the aspect of human values during the development phase of science.

– How can Russian scientists become a part of the global scientific landscape?

– Russian researchers are already a part of the global scientific landscape. They have made tremendous contributions to science and technology. I am not familiar with the political situation in Russia but I believe that all countries in the world should keep politics away from research and teaching.

I was fortunate to attend a few conferences in Saint Petersburg and Moscow a few years ago. I was very impressed by the highest quality of research papers, presented by the Russian researchers. I also had the opportunity to work with Russian researchers. It has resulted in many joint publications.

 – When we think about the future of science, we think about the AI-driven future even in the humanitarian field and media in particular.

– Present and future developments in Artificial Intelligence fused to environmental issues and the welfare of humankind are some of the key challenges, we are facing today.

In spite of tremendous advances in science and technology, as I have mentioned before, there are conflicts in every country in the world. It shows that the present advances in science and technology lag one very important component, that is, humanity.

It seems to me, that science has not succeeded in teaching human values.

I believe that science has not succeeded in instilling in the human mind the concept of Hindus teaching, that is, “One Earth, One Sun, One Family”.

Once we start considering every human as a part of our big family, significant conflicts in the world will start disappearing.

Interviewed by Marina G. Shilina / Интервью провела M.Г. Шилина