Last Week on Earth with GARI (Global Arena Research Institute)

Welcome to the new year of GARI podcasts! We’re excited by our 2022 guest lineup, starting with the brilliant Shmuel Bar!

Dr. Bar is the founder and CEO of IntuView – an Israeli based software company that has developed an integrated semantics-driven platform for fully-automated real-time analysis and “meaning mining” of unstructured textual documents in various languages. Dr. Bar served for thirty years in various positions in the Israeli Office of the Prime Minister of Israel.  Since 2002, Dr. Bar has headed research projects – some of them for US government agencies - and published extensively on issues relating to the Middle East

Our main topic of discussion will be the current conflict around Russia and Ukraine and the actual international meaning of it all.

• Can Russia get most of what it wants just by threatening to do it?
• How far can Russia get in achieving its goal in reinstating a new regional or world order in which Russia is returning to some level of status that is comparable to what the Soviet Union had? The question is how much are the Americans interested in blocking that? Or are they reconciled with a  new world order where the US is trying to get out of legacy commitments and even formal obligations?
• Will the current issue do minor modifications for the next year or few years, or are we talking about a major shift in a trend, the abdication of the US as a world superpower?
• We have a new nemesis to focus on - China
• Putin knows he's actually doing Biden a favour, he has no interest in invading - but by making a crisis, the cusp of WW3  - Biden can “prevent” it. Allowing Biden to give Putin what he wanted to give him anyway. This allows Americans to claim a great victory and deal with the Chinese threat.

What does Intuview do?

• Langauge, especially in the age of social media, changes very rapidly
• We need to collect the information and allow the information to tell you what is prominent and what is not. Bringing together things that mean the same, so it's meaning mining

What has Intuview worked on?

• What do people want in Saudi Arabia? Women cannot drive - husbands who cannot afford chauffeurs for their wives have to drive them around themselves. Intuview's research showed that what will make, especially Saudi Arabia's youth, happy, is to allow women to drive cars
• Four or five months before the Arab Spring Intuview predicted that Tunisia, Lybia and Egypt (and Syria for other reasons) are liable to fall. The reason was that if you have an old autocratic leader that has been surrounded by the same people for 20 years who are yes men and have never made decisions all their life, as the leader gets older and is unable to control, then you can have the evolution of a crisis and nobody can control it. In the case of Egypt, the army men come from areas where they are posted, and they wouldn't open fire on the people they know and grew up with, so the only political force in the country that can take over would be the Muslim Brotherhood.

So what will happen now with Russia?

Russia is in no rush to resolve the conflict.  Headlines will continue to say “we are on the

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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• What is surprising about the Russian aggression toward Ukraine?
• Is it possible Putin didn’t have contingency plans for partial or total failure?
• Russian doctrine of power and success
• Did the Russian intelligence community really get it wrong or did they try to please Putin with their assessment?
• The problem of cognitive dissonance
• What will be the biggest challenge now for Ukraine and the Western allies?
• What will NATO's worth be for countries in Europe if NATO doesn’t react?
• What will happen next?
• Is there a development in the Ukrainian public opinion? Greater resilience or exhaustion? 
• What are the unlikely developments? What is inevitable.
• There are a lot of structural conditions that point to a strong possibility that there will be further decoupling and deglobalisation.  Will there be a breaking point?

What are the 3 things to watch in the next few weeks to watch in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine?

1. Use of chemical weapons by Russia won’t make any difference to NATO - it didn’t in Syria.

2. The Russians won't use a tactical nuclear weapon at this stage. They want to maintain a tactical war of attrition. Nuclear Weapons are not the sort of things you’d use in that. 

3. Putin wants to reach some sort of victory by the 9th of May. The question is what can constitute victory? - Maybe a Russian defeat of Donbas - a mass levelling of Ukrainian cities at a much greater level than now, can precipitate a reaction of other countries to give some air defence to Ukraine. Intercepting Russian aircrafts from neighbouring countries. 

4. Another possibility for a shift, would be a situation in Moscow where somebody will suggest to Putin to change course and instability in the Kremlin would have a lot of impact. But destabilisation within the Kremlin will put pressure on Putin to take more drastic action, to achieve victory at any cost. That is where tactical nuclear weapons will come in. The US will have to raise the nuclear alert. 

Shmuel Bar: https://il.linkedin.com/in/shmuelbar
More on Intuview: https://www.intuview.com/
More on the Global Arena Research Institute: https://www.globari.org/

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
@LinkedIn
@GARInstitute) / Twitter

Today’s podcast with Sebastian Hallensleben includes topics on the impact of generative AI with tools like deep fake, the future of platforms like Facebook and the creation of new platforms for constructive discourse, quantum computing, using a piece of the sun for energy on earth, and lastly, how to fund foundational research. 

Sebastian Hellensleben is the head of digitalization and AI at VDE, and works on concepts and infrastructures for trust in the digital space. 

Impact of generative AI - tools such as deep fakes - in the digital space. We haven’t yet understood it properly.

 Generative AI tools:

- being able to create profiles of people that don’t exist

- creating media for people that don’t exist

- virtual influencers that can have followers

The contest of quantity between product promoters is who has more bots. How can we trust ratings? 

Democratic discourse: if we lose the digital space as a platform for discourse to bots, it’ll have a major impact on the ability of democratic systems to function.

How to regulate this?

Regulation is never going to turn platforms like Facebook into a forum for constructive discourse. And that’s something we really have to understand.

So we have to look elsewhere and we need to create new kinds of platforms where constructive discourse can happen.

You need to create different incentive mechanisms. Like to convince another person of your position, or to gather reputation if you're able to build consensus between groups of 20 or 30 other users.

Where are platforms like Facebook heading? 

It is frightening that the owners of these platforms either haven't asked the question or there is no answer, to how these platforms can evolve in a more sustainable way. 

What technology are you excited about now?

Quantum computing - because it’ll be more disruptive - it is certainly a very fascinating technology. It's hard to say are we 5 years or 50 away from breakthroughs. It shares that with much older technology like nuclear fusion. But the mere notion of being able to have a piece of the sun on earth and use it to create energy.

Who should be funding all this?

Foundational research will never be funded by commercial investment. Because rewards are 20, 30 or 40 years away and it might not be clear what these rewards are. It's important governments support foundational research. It would be wise to have budgets to do research and just see where it takes us. 

How do we get countries that spend less than 3% of their GDP on research and innovation to spend more?

We need to link foundational research to certain megatrends:  aging population, finite natural recourses, the need to keep this planet liveable, and also from a perspective of how to keep people living together peacefully. Building resilient democracies for stable economies.

American versus European approach to spurring innovation. 

Fresh thinking on what the European Union actually is
 
Triggered by Brexit and Putin’s war and Trump, but nevertheless triggered. What is the goal and if the facets of that goal are still remnant? And a fresh perspective on the internal structures. Is it an economic union? Yes, to what

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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Today I’m chatting with Florian Neukart from Terra Quantum about all things quantum, what is quantum physics and technology, how can it be applied and what will it look like in the automotive, medical,  pharmacy, finance, and energy sectors, and why is combining the first and second quantum revolutions exciting?

To see more of the transcript, please see the transcript ;)

What is quantum computing? Where did it start?
Difference between referring to quantum physics, science, and computing?

What is the coolest thing about quantum technology to you?

How much of quantum physics is already understood? 

Quantum sensors are way more powerful than we have today. Let’s say with vehicles, self-automated vehicles, sensors are very receptive to environmental influences, it cannot see through rain, snow, or fog. We need new sensors. Quantum radar systems can see through all this. 

Cryptography is the third pillar of quantum. Quantum algorithms have the potential to crack current encryption. 

What does Terra Quantum do?

High-performance computing will still develop, it isn’t over just because quantum computing is here. Combining these two in terms of software is important.

(from https://terraquantum.swiss/)Terra Quantum is a deep tech pioneer, developing revolutionary quantum applications to shape the technology of the future. Our international team of experts brings together the best minds from science, academia and industry to address the most fundamental questions of quantum physics and their manifestations in the world around us. We are building quantum technology for a better future, breaking down the barriers between science and industry, and laying the foundations of a real quantum tech ecosystem and value chain.

Applications of quantum computing outside of the realms of technology - what can it improve in other sectors and industries?

Material science - automotive industry, all production industries.

Pharmacy - simulating drugs, simulate the molecule exactly  - how a molecule acts on a protein - if you can do that, you can find personalized treatment for every disease you can think of. Quantum computers can simulate all reactions - simulates what a particle does to any part of the body.

Finance - trading, optimization of portfolios - here we’re at the border of what classical machines/computers can do.  You can save 240 million eur by running a quantum algorithm. 

Society - Environment and environmental problems - from energy (fusion). Quantum simulation is important.

Carbon dioxide or monoxide extraction - material simulation, you can find materials that carbon monoxide can attach to well and make very powerful extractors. For fleets of vehicles or cities, that want to improve the traffic simulation, you can optimize traffic light switching and routing so that emission output is reduced, and delivery of goods and people is prioritized and optimized. 

The Global Arena Research Institute specializes in high-level research & analysis using big data and AI. In our podcast, we bring you experts from various fields for fascinating and useful discussions. Your host was Odessa Primus, Executive Director at Global Arena Research Institut

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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"There are no autonomous weapons, only autonomy in weapons systems"

Frank Sauer is a Senior Research Fellow at Bundeswehr University Munich and the Head of Research at the Metis Institute for Strategy and Foresight. He currently serves as a senior advisor on the International Panel on the Regulation of Autonomous Weapons (iPRAW) and as a subject matter expert in the commission on the responsible use of technologies in the European ‘Future Combat Air System’ (FCAS). He is also a leading member of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC), one of the founding NGOs of the ‘Campaign to Stop Killer Robots’. He regularly sits with the UN on discussions around nuclear, cyber, and autonomous weapons.

• Autonomous weapons, where we are now, what are the biggest misconceptions, where is it all heading, what are the challenges, the opportunities, the whole shebang.
• Language, paradigms, the way you shape and make regulation 
• How do countries act and who's the biggest spoiler state in Geneva at the UN table?
• Unprecedented formulated position by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the guardian of international humanitarian law, rules and regulations on how to conduct warfare
• Is there a timeframe of when there could be a technological breakthrough that could render the international law frame useless?
• Use of AI - an enabling technology, and object recognition and sensor data fusion
• How is advancement in AI reflected in advancement in applied AI in defense? When will this advance?
• Why do private-sector companies not want to be involved in military innovation? 
• How can the human foresee what the weapon will be doing? How can the human administer it? How can we trace back the responsibility of handing over the controls over the critical functions to the machine?  
• Responsible use of autonomous weapons systems
• The role of philosophy and sociology - is there a philosophy, or change in human behaviour and our perception of it, coming out from the development and discussions around autonomous weapons systems?
• Are people at international tables, at the UN, struggling with new information and new expertise and the need to discuss it and decide what should be regulated, but even just understand what they’re talking about? How long does it take for everyone to be on the same page? 
• What will happen in the next 30 years? What will the development be and what will the conversation be?

The Global Arena Research Institute specializes in high-level research & analysis using big data and AI. In our podcast, we bring you experts from various fields for fascinating and useful discussions.

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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2022 AI Index Report by Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI

The AI Index is an independent initiative. The annual report tracks, collates, distills, and visualizes data relating to artificial intelligence, enabling decision-makers to take meaningful action to advance AI responsibly and ethically with humans in mind.

The latest edition includes data from a broad set of academic, private, and nonprofit organizations as well as more self-collected data and original analysis than any previous editions, including an expanded technical performance chapter, a new survey of robotics researchers around the world, data on global AI legislation records in 25 countries, and a new chapter with an in-depth analysis of technical AI ethics metrics.

Our guest today, Nestor Maslej is a Research Associate at the Institute and worked directly on the report.

We discuss many of the marvelous examples of how AI is used around the globe as well as trends, breakthroughs and difficulties AI development has experienced in the last year. 

“If we are to get the most out of AI, to build AI systems that are capable of really enriching humanity’s potential, then we’re going to have to figure out a way to build them so they align with fundamental human values”

• What is "human-centered AI"?
• Unexpected consequences of AI development
• How is the AI Index Report  created?  
• Problems of AI - like image recognition 
• Trends in AI in the past 5 years - what has changed structurally?
• What to say at a dinner party if AI comes up - your spiel 
• exploring 3 big AI trends:
  1. AI is getting faster and cheaper
  2. Data is becoming increasingly necessary for building the best IA systems
  3. legislative interest in AI is skyrocketing 
• Top countries passing AI legislature
• The big question: When can we develop AI systems that are capable of thinking like a human can think? 

Global Arena Research Institute is an independent, non-partisan research organisation that combines the most advanced methods of AI-driven data, scientific and other artificial reasoning capabilities, elevating data science into completely new levels of opportunity. Our goal is to provide unprecedented insights into the nature, impact, and management of globalization in order to improve institutional and governmental as well as business, energy and other sectors’ decision making. Our mission is to make the most of organically connecting AI-level reasoning capacities with the human-level critical reasoning capacities for the sake of a better future.

With your hosts Odessa Primus and Michal Koran
Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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Today we are welcoming back Sebastian Hallensleben to talk about the new perception of the EU, the imprecision of the Commissions regulations on AI, the level of technological understanding amongst EU commissioners, the challenges that poses, funding innovation and more.

• How does interdisciplinary and inter-sector dialogue work in the EU? 
• The European Commission is working on AI regulation, and the regulations are quite imprecise but will eventually have a significant impact on the way we handle AI in Europe
• In European politics, there are parties that ultimately strive to work towards some sort of compromise and parties that don’t
• The debates happen on different levels because of the different levels of technological know-how. Corporations try to come in and explain AI which can affect European policy-making sovereignty
• If you look at history, despite the many faults the European Union has, it has always been a success model
• Europe has to be cautious of the uncertainties of other countries, such as the US or Russia
• The EU discusses autonomy and sovereignty as a geo-strategic balance
• Timing of AI regulation is important
• The EU needs to have a discussion about its own resilience and its institutions. What happens if a bad actor comes into play?
• The importance of democratic discourse. Government is not just a “service provider”. The government is shaped by its citizens
• Biggest challenge right now is building an infrastructure of trust in the digital space. How can I avoid being manipulated by AI entities? Setting up privacy and identity protection. Government shouldn’t run these protections but sponsor them.
• The need for funding for new ideas in the digital space

Sebastian Hellensleben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastianhallensleben/
GARI: https://globari.org/
Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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Today we’re chatting with intelligence expert Joanna Bryson on:

• The definition of intelligence, artificial and natural? 
• AI as an efficiency tool
• Putting AI products into ordinary product law
• How do we perceive the global bi-polar AI situation?
• Why Google and Apple don’t patent that much
• China, Russia, Iran, the EU - who, what, and why?

with degrees in social and computer sciences from Chicago, Edinburgh, and MIT, Bryson’s research appears in venues from Reddit to Science, and she advises companies, governments, transnational agencies, and NGOs globally, particularly in AI policy. Since February 2020, Joanna has been a Professor of Ethics and Technology at Hertie School, a governance university in Berlin.

Enjoy, share and subscribe!

https://globari.org/podcast
https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-arena-research-institute/
https://globari.org/

Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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We’re excited to launch a new series of shorter podcast episodes where we give you a deeper look into what is happening right now globally and regionally and GARI’s insights into it. GARI’s digital twin of the globalised world enables us to do complex analyses and have valuable insight into topics we deal with. Today we delve into the changing landscape of global interconnectedness, regionalization of trade, investment, technological exchange and a close look at China, Russia and Europe.
With your hosts: GARI’s Executive Director Odessa Primus and Founder Michal Koran and this is Last Week on Earth with GARI

1. Global decoupling until now has been pretty foggy, however, this is changing and we’re now seeing a world that is deeply fragmented - in which sectors is this most prominent and what should we be looking out for?
2. Europe will have difficulty finding its place in the sun in this new world - what are the circumstances for Europe and how does it differ from other regions?
3. Is Europe responding to new trends, challenges and opportunities? Why is Europe still lagging and in which areas is it most urgent?
4. How would you describe the new trajectories of Russia and China since the invasion?
5. What are China and Russia doing to diversify their trade and how does it compare to Europe’s efforts?
6. What are the regional differences in Europe and how does that impact the politics, economics and society within the regions and Europe as a whole?
7. What should Europe be paying attention to right now and what should be done?

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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We chat today about chat GPT, Destination Earth as well as the changing approach to discovery and the advancement of science and technology. Enjoy, subscribe and share!

Destination Earth (DestinE), is an ambitious initiative to create a digital twin – an interactive computer simulation – of our planet to empower climate change adaptation and to prevent environmental degradation.

As extreme weather becomes increasingly frequent and changes in climate more pronounced, there is an urgent need to forecast these events with even greater accuracy, to predict their impact on the environment, life and property.

Using an unprecedented amount of data, innovative Earth system models and cutting-edge computing, Destination Earth will allow users to explore interactively the different components of the Earth system and natural and human-induced change. They will be able and to look at the past and present and to test and develop future scenarios.

ECMWF, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) are the three organisations entrusted by the EU to achieve this unprecedented endeavour for climate, weather and computing sciences.

By pushing the limits of computing and climate sciences, DestinE is a cornerstone of the European Commission’s efforts to boost Europe’s digital capabilities and the Green Deal actions on climate change and to prevent environmental degradation.

The first phase of the programme – its initial implementation phase – will be completed by June 2024. It will focus on configuring, deploying and demonstrating the initial infrastructure building blocks that will support Destination Earth in its future phases.

Peter’s current role at ECMWF (the European center for medium ranged weather forecasting) is as Director of Destination Earth. Destination Earth is an ambitious initiative of the European Commission to develop a highly accurate digital twin, or replica, of Earth to to monitor and predict the interaction between natural phenomena and human activities. Key to predicting the effects and building resilience to climate change

Peter had previously founded and led the ECMWF Scalability Programme which addresses the challenges of operating complex Earth system models on future supercomputing facilities.

As Head of the Satellite Section, he has been coordinating all scientific and technical activities related to the efficient use of space-borne observations of the atmosphere, oceans, land and the cryosphere.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-bauer-712677109/
https://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/what-we-do/environmental-services-and-future-vision/destination-earth
https://www.linkedin.com/in/odessa-primus/
https://www.globari.org/
Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
@LinkedIn
@GARInstitute) / Twitter

Today’s guest is Stanford Institute of Human Centered AI’s Nestor Maslej here to chat about this year’s AI Index Report - this is the second time we’re here together and I’d highly recommend listening to last year’s episode with Nestor on the 2022 Report. What are the trends, opportunities and challenges in AI from this last year?

• AI is being used to tangibly increase scientific advancement in energy
• Tricking chat gpt into building a dirty bomb or listing pirated movie websites
• Humanity faces the challenge of finding a way to manage the risks associated with artificial intelligence while ensuring that the benefits are shared by everyone.
• Top AI trends this year, compared to last year
• Career advice 2013 vs 2023 - 2013: “study computer science that is the future instead of being, say, a welder”, to 2023: “go back to being a welder, AI is going to replace all the computer science jobs”
• Generative AI seems to be going after creatives
• How much money is AI generating?
• AI ethics on the rise
• Public Opinion on AI
• When will we get to Artificial General intelligence?

Listen to last year’s episode with Nestor on the 2022 AI Index Report: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1477957/10744662

Nestor Maslej: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nestor-maslej-b565b779/

AI Index Report: https://aiindex.stanford.edu/report/

Nestor Maslej, Loredana Fattorini, Erik Brynjolfsson, John Etchemendy, Katrina Ligett, Terah Lyons, James Manyika, Helen Ngo, Juan Carlos Niebles, Vanessa Parli, Yoav Shoham, Russell Wald, Jack Clark, and Raymond Perrault, “The AI Index 2023 Annual Report,” AI Index Steering Committee, Institute for Human-Centered AI, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, April 2023.

Your host of Last Week on Earth with GARI: Odessa Primus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/odessa-primus/

Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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@GARInstitute) / Twitter

All there is to know about the metaverse with Claudia May del Pozo, Executive Director of the Eon Resilience Lab, under C Minds, a women-led action tank that works at the intersection of digitalization, new technologies, and society with a strong focus on Latin America. We’re going to be chatting about the metaverse.

• monopoly on metaverse? or utopian version built on blockchain?
• when will we have a metaverse? 
• next stage of social media
• problems:
  • accessibility
  • inclusion
  • privacy and security 
• uses of virtual reality

Questions posed:

1. What is the metaverse, and how is it different from virtual reality or augmented reality? 
2. How do you envision the metaverse evolving in the coming years, and what impact do you think it will have on our daily lives?
3. What ethical considerations should be taken into account when designing and implementing the metaverse, particularly with regards to data privacy and security? 
4. What is being done so that the metaverse is accessible to all, regardless of their socioeconomic background or geographic location?
5. How can the metaverse be used to promote social and environmental causes, and what are some examples of this in action? 
6. What role do you see governments playing in regulating the metaverse, and what challenges do you think they will face in doing so? 

https://mx.linkedin.com/in/claudiamdelpozo/en

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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Sibylle Barden is an author and SDG and ESG strategist. She is an early champion of Stakeholder Capitalism. Her latest political novel „The Honeyguide“ was selected by the Frankfurt Book Fair as “one of 8 revolutionary books recommended for film adaptation”. Your host for this episode is Michal Koran, the Founder of the Global Arena Research Institute. Enjoy subscribe and share!

• Stakeholder capitalism - what is it?
• Regions are developing or even stagnating unevenly - despite all the funds and strategies - creating a divisive environment in Europe
• Klaus Schwab's “great reset”
• 200 big global players committed to the ESGs and SDGs  
• Biodiversity and climate change
• Almost a million plant and animal species to become extinct in the coming decades
• Issue of taxation - corporations to pay their fair share
• Call for a global tax system?
• ESG is not just there for the planet, it's a new business model 
• Clean supply chains
• More regulation and measuring 

"The world of tomorrow was yesterday" - Michal Koran

https://sibyllebarden.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sibylle-barden/

Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
@LinkedIn
@GARInstitute) / Twitter

Henry Ajder, a globally recognised advisor, speaker, and broadcaster working at the frontier of the generative AI and synthetic media revolution. 

AI-generated deep fakes - their current and future impact, synthetic media 

• How to do news sourcing and verifications and break breaking news as soon as possible? especially when Twitter has become the place for breaking news
• AI generated fakes are being used to cause stock market manipulation or to target companies to artificially inflate or attack their stock prices 
• Ethical AI development and use - are there realistic cohesive and multistakeholder dialogues and strategies taking place? Actual well-informed legislation and regulation?
• Which labour sectors will be most impacted and which won't?
• We will see increasing social unrest - If people are unhappy with any innovation - people will protest
• A lot of the jobs that are at risk are where people actually refuse to innovate and adapt. So people using AI are going to replace people who don’t. Human-guided AI will be the key, for both businesses and individuals (graphic design, artists, content journalists, education and educational content)
• If we take a bird’s eye view of history, where are we in time? In terms of invention and our perception of our abilities and opportunities?
• Synthetic resurrection, AI companions, romantic attachments to chatbots,
• We’ve never been able to replicate reality before

Henry Ajder is a globally recognised advisor, speaker, and broadcaster working at the frontier of the generative AI and synthetic media revolution.

Henry’s work has transformed society’s understanding of deepfakes and generative AI. He has led pioneering research at organisations including MIT, WITNESS, and Sensity AI, influencing international legislation and corporate AI strategy.

He advises organisations on the opportunities and challenges these game-changing technologies present, including Meta, The European Commission, BBC, The Partnership on AI, and The House of Lords.

Previously, Henry led Synthetic Futures, the first initiative dedicated to ethical generative AI and metaverse technologies, bringing together over 50 industry-leading organisations.

Henry presented the BBC documentary series, The Future will be Synthesised, and regularly features in global media including The New York Times, MIT Tech Review, CNN, Reuters, and The Financial Times. He has been published by outlets including WIRED, The Next Web, NYU, and The World AI Summit. 

An established keynote speaker and guest expert, Henry has spoken at venues including SXSW, CogX, The University of Oxford, and Adweek. He has been named in the top 20 European power players in Generative AI by the publication Sifted, and a top 15 Generative AI Expert by Champions Speaking Agency.

https://www.henryajder.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/henryajder/

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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Bjorn Stevens is the Director of the Max Plank Institute for Meteorology in Berlin - Bjorn is a top climate scientist, with particular expertise in clouds. 

• New climate model simulations of the world - EVE) Earth Virtualisation Engines
• Human vs science-centric climate science
• Earth in 100 years
• Darwin and the theory of e-0volution
• It's also clear that humans are responsible for global warming and not enough is being done if the goal is to stop the warming, whats the scientific consequence of that?
• What's the difference between 2 and 1,5 degrees of warming?
• How AI aids people with different backgrounds and knowledge bases to understand the same things
• What is Bjorn Stevens’s favourite thing about clouds?

Born 1966 in Augsburg. Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering, Iowa State University, USA (1990), PhD in Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, USA (1996), Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Advanced Study Program of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, USA (1996 - 1998), Humboldt Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (1998 - 1999), University of California (UCLA), USA, Department of Atmospheric Sciences: Assistant Professor (1999), Associate Professor (2003), Professor (tenured, 2007), Affiliate Scientist at NCAR (since 2000), Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (since 2008).

The Max Planck Society conducts basic research in the natural sciences, life sciences, and humanities. It was founded in 1948 as a successor organisation to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society and has 30 Nobel laureates in its ranks. With its 85 Max Planck Institutes and facilities, it is the international flagship for German science: in addition to institutions outside of Germany, it operates another 20 Max Planck Centers with research institutions such as Princeton University in the USA, the Paris University Science Po in France, the University College London in UK, and the University of Tokyo in Japan. Equally funded by federal and state governments, the University College London in UK, and the University of Tokyo in Japan. Equally funded by federal and state governments, the Max Planck Society had an annual budget of 1.98 billion Euros in 2022.

https://www.mpg.de/343990/meteorology-stevens
latestthinking.org

Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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Luís de Almeida Sampaio, the Ambassador from Portugal to the Czech Republic, has held numerous posts around the world and has a deep interest in global health care. In this episode he covers the M8 Alliance. 

With regards to Ukraine, what has been the war's impact on European healthcare? What changes in the discussions when there is a war like this? 
How do politics and policy impact the global discussion around health care? 
What are Portugal's involvements in the M8 alliance?
What are the significant developments the M8 alliance has contributed to in the last decade?
What is the relationship between the M8 alliance and the world health organization?
What is going to be the most hot topic at the M8 conference this year?
What are the similarities between the Czech Republic and Portugal's economies, and what are the opportunities for synchronization and collaboration? 

Sampaio began his career studying Law at the Coimbra University, his first diplomatic post was  NATO (1987), eventually becoming ambassador to NATO. Since then the Ambassador has held diplomatic positions in Brussels, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgrade, Serbia, Germany, and holds the ambassadorial post of Permanent Representative of Portugal in the North Atlantic Council.   

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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Theresa Kushner's journey in the world of high technology serves as an inspiration to aspiring professionals. From her early days in the field of journalism to her influential roles in renowned companies she is a true data-vangelist. 

Theresa graduated from the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas. Over the course of her career, Theresa has held prominent positions in several industry-leading companies. She has showcased her expertise and leadership abilities in organizations such as IBM, Cisco Systems, VMware, Dell/EMC, and NTT DATA,  helping these companies use the value they have in their data.  Today Theresa has co-founded the company Business Data Leadership with Maria Villar, focusing on leadership, advising, and consulting in the realm of data analytics. 

Theresa has made significant contributions to the literature on data and its application in business. She co-authored two notable books: "Managing Your Business Data: From Chaos to Confidence" in collaboration with Maria Villar, and "B2B Data-Driven Marketing: Sources, Uses, Results" co-authored with Ruth Stevens. These publications have been recognized for their valuable insights into leveraging data for improved business outcomes.

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresakushner?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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Underestimating AI's long-term impact - the 21st century's industrial revolution

In this episode, we delve into the transformative world of AI, discussing how it's become the Industrial Revolution of the 21st century. 

Nowcasting: the high-resolution forecasting of rain up to two hours ahead, the generative model that ranked first for its accuracy and usefulness, Alphafold, which can accurately predict 3D models of protein structures and is accelerating research in nearly every field of biology and AlphaMissence which analyzes the effects of DNA mutations and will accelerate research into rare diseases.

HANGAR: UN General Assembly & AI's Global Prominence:
We kick things off at the United Nations General Assembly, where a new $5 billion commitment signifies AI's top-of-mind status this year, reminiscent of the previous year's focus on climate change. We explore how AI can support the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its current role in "nowcasting."

Risks and Governance in the AI Era:
We dissect the risks of AI at both national and global levels and the need for a high-level advisory body on AI. The 2024 Summit of the Futures and the delicate balance between creating AI guardrails without stifling innovation come under scrutiny.

EU Regulation and the Challenge of Risk Assessment:
We examine EU regulations on high-risk AI systems and the complexities of scaling AI's risk in the face of rapid technological development. We ponder the necessity of taking risks for fundamental research in the era of "Grey-zone AI development."

AlphaFold's Impact and the Global AI Race:
AlphaFold's groundbreaking work in protein folding prediction is spotlighted. We discuss the ongoing global AI race, emphasizing the need for regulation, commercialization, brain drain, and education. We ask if the EU should replicate the US model with research centers or "lighthouses."

US and UK Perspectives on AI Governance:
We explore the chances of AI bills passing in the US and hear UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Downton's perspective on the unique nature of AI governance. We dive into AI's potential for advancing science, particularly in the medical field.

Amara's Law and the Long-Term Impact of AI:
We introduce Amara's Law and its relevance to our current AI hype. Are we underestimating what AI will achieve in the coming decade? We reflect on the most exciting aspects of working for DeepMind and the prevailing philosophy in AI today.

AI Overhype and Focusing on Key Concerns:
We address the overhype surrounding AI, drawing parallels with the start of the Industrial Revolution when people couldn't foresee the transformation ahead. We emphasize the challenge of maintaining focus amid the noise.

Fairness, Equity, and the Global Digital Compact:
Diversity and equity in AI development are discussed in-depth. How can AI be equitable when its developers largely come from a specific demographic? We introduce the concept of the Global Digital Compact.

Favourite AI Tools and a Glimpse into the Future

Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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Big Global Energy Question - N100 2024 Berlin
This session provides a holistic overview of crucial trends and strategic realignments in global energy, emphasizing both a scientifically informed understanding and the practical aspect of crafting future policies.
This stage debate addresses the critical trends shaping global energy futures, strategies, and policies with a focus on adapting to the demands of climate change and sustainable transitions. The session will serve as a prism for evaluating the effectiveness of decarbonization policies through the lens of environmental, economic, and social impacts while integrating perspectives from physics to explore foundational principles affecting energy systems. It will also highlight transformative innovations in energy technologies and how these can redefine the landscape of knowns and unknowns in energy futures

Speakers
Frederick Bordry, CTO of Gauss Fusion | Former Director of Technology, CERN
Lenka Kovačovská, LK Energy Consulting, Former Deputy Minister responsible for energy, CZ
Mirek Topolánek, Former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic & President of the European Council
Tony Curzon Price, Economic regulation, strategy, energy, net zero, antitrust, tech regulation, former sr advisor to UK PM

Next 100 Symposium
The Next 100 Symposium, a conference by the Global Arena Research Institute, bringing together leaders and experts across various disciplines, has served as a platform for fostering open discussion on global challenges since its inception. The inaugural Next 100 Symposium in the fall of 2018 commemorated the centenary of the First World War's end. Inspired by a spirit of rebuilding trust and stability from the ruins of post-war Europe, we sought to shift from crisis-driven language, exploring how science, technology, and open, cross-disciplinary dialogue could transcend the darkening global horizons. The past six years did not offer much optimism in this regard. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a global accelerator, exacerbating underlying social, economic, and political issues, while also introducing many new ones. True to the original ethos of the Next 100, we reject the notion of deepening disorder, mistrust, and polarization as the "new normal." The 2024 Berlin edition aims to identify realistic, actionable paths forward, particularly in the context of the upcoming European parliamentary elections and the upcoming European Commission.
https://www.next100symposium.org/

Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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Fusion energy, at the cutting edge of scientific advancement, offers a promising yet challenging path to sustainable power. Recent breakthroughs in magnetic confinement and laser-driven inertial fusion have moved us closer to net energy gain. However, significant obstacles remain in scaling stable fusion reactions for commercial use, requiring substantial investments and stringent safety regulations. Despite these hurdles, the potential for fusion energy to provide a nearly inexhaustible, low-carbon source of power continues to drive global research. Looking ahead, the focus will be on improving reactor efficiency and addressing material science challenges, maintaining a realistic yet optimistic outlook on fusion's role in future energy solutions.

Gauss Fusion is a Greentech venture founded in 2022 by private industrial companies. The company brings together a combination of cutting-edge scientific research and industrial expertise on fusion energy that is unique in Europe. The founding companies from Germany, France, Italy and Spain have extensive expertise in fusion technology. In addition, Gauss Fusion cooperates with leading European research institutes. These include, among others: CERN, the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and ENEA in Italy. With this impressive knowledge base from industry and academia, and through strategic public-private partnerships, Gauss Fusion is pursuing the goal of bringing renewable fusion energy to market at high-speed using efficient structures, and represents an entrepreneurial approach that aims to significantly accelerate development through public-private partnerships (PPP).
https://gauss-fusion.com

Milena Roveda, Chief Executive Officer, Gauss Fusion, Innovator
Her previous roles include the Chief Financial Officer of DEPT (2021-2022) and IFS (2018-2019) and Chief Operating Officer of MotorK(2019-2020). Roveda has over 25 years of international experience leading teams in developing and expanding businesses and extensive know-how in designing and executing corporate strategies.

The Next 100 Symposium, a Global Arena Research Institute conference, brings together leaders and experts across various disciplines. True to the original ethos of the Next 100, we reject the notion of deepening disorder, mistrust, and polarization as the "new normal." The 2024 Berlin edition aims to identify realistic, actionable paths forward, particularly in the context of the upcoming European parliamentary elections and the upcoming European Commission.

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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Trade Realities: European Uncertain Autonomy and Global Geoeconomics  - N100 2024 Berlin
This discussion explored the implications of Europe's quest for resiliency and selective autonomy on its global trade relationships, regional economic stability, and overall competitiveness in an uncertain global environment. The debate dissected the state of global trade, examining the precarious balance between maintaining open commercial flows and responding to increasing geopolitical pressures. It analyzed the mixed outcomes of Europe's strategic shifts towards greater economic sovereignty, highlighting the challenges posed by external dependencies, particularly with China and the U.S., and the internal disparities among how EU regions were vulnerable to these shifts. The discussion addressed Europe's vulnerabilities and opportunities in technology and production, the broader impact of protectionist trends on global trade architectures, incorporating also the business and supply chain perspectives. With the evolving landscape of globalization—marked by cautious engagement and selective isolation—the panel explored viable strategies for Europe to navigate these dilemmas, ensuring resilience in a fragmenting global economy.

Speakers:
Donna Avellana Künzler
Head of Procurement Process Excellence & Digital Transformation, ABB

Donna Avellana Künzler is currently the Head of Procurement Process Excellence & Digital Transformation for ABB’s Robotics and Discrete Automation in Zurich, Switzerland. With 25 years of experience, she excels in international program/project management, business and IT process reengineering, risk and controls, and global system implementations.As an award-winning author, Künzler's book, "The Overseas Fabulous Pinay," published in March 2020, has earned accolades, including the Best Independent Book Award (BIBA) 2021 for Nonfiction: Travel-Living Abroad.

Michal Koran, Founder of the Global Arena Research Institute
Michal Kořan, President & Founder of the Global Arena Research Institute and Assistant Professor at Masaryk University, holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences. His expertise spans globalization, technology, global politics, security, foreign policy, theories of International Relations, and philosophy of science, with a focus on applied complex data science, data-driven forecasting, and risk assessment. He explores the interplay between (de)globalizing forces, supply chains, commodities, energy, security, and their social impacts, integrating neuroscientific research into understanding complex societal behaviour. 

Next 100 Symposium
The Next 100 Symposium, organized by the Global Arena Research Institute, has brought together leaders and experts across various disciplines to discuss global challenges since 2018.

Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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In this episode, we discuss navigating the dualities of the digital economy amidst rising entropy and the unexpected effects of regulations. Staying a tech optimist can feel challenging. The past decade of rapid digitalization has improved interactions between citizens and governments, amplified marginalized voices, and increased social and economic interconnectedness. However, these benefits aren't equally distributed. Issues like data commodification, privacy concerns, and societal pathologies from constant smartphone use have permeated societies, possibly irreversibly. The increase in societal entropy leads to disorder and uncertainty, impacting different groups unevenly. As a result, policies and regulations often struggle to succeed and may have unintended consequences, potentially fueling the erosion of democratic societies.

Guests:
Sebastian Hallensleben
Head of Digitalisation and AI; Head of Strategic Technology Area "Digital Trust", VDE | Co-Chair, OECD ONE AI; UNESCO AI Ethics implementation expert group

Dr. Sebastian Hallensleben, Chair of CEN-CENELEC JTC 21 shaping European AI standards for EU regulation, also contributes to the EU StandICT program and leads the Trusted Information working group. He co-chairs OECD ONE.AI's classification and risk assessment group and holds roles in AI committees at IEC, Council of Europe, and UNESCO. Additionally, he heads Digitalisation and AI at VDE, overseeing new product/service development and providing guidance to the German parliament, federal ministries, and the European Commission. His focus includes AI ethics, generative AI impact, privacy-preserving trust infrastructures, and AI quality characterization. Previously, he facilitated dialogues between academia, industry, and policymaking and worked on international infrastructure projects. With a PhD in physics, he began his career in IT development and solutions architecture in the financial and telecom sectors. He holds an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Tübingen and both his MSc and PhD degrees in physics are from the Unviersity of Sussexs.

Tony Curzon Price
Economic regulation, strategy, energy, net zero, antitrust, tech regulation, former sr advisor to UK PM

Tony Curzon Price Sits on the board of Ofgem, the UK's energy regulator with responsibility for achieving Net Zero. He has worked in Number 10, the Cabinet Office, the department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and in the UK's antitrust authority. Before his civil service career, he founded Arithmatica, a silicon valley chip design company, and spent 5 years building the company in the Bay Area; he was editor-in-chief of the UK political website openDemocracy, where transformed openDemocracy into a not-for-profit editors’ cooperative for comment, analysis and investigation. He wrote his PhD on game theory and market design with Ken Binmore at UCL.

Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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In this podcast, we explore whether it's possible to augment stability and safeguard freedom in liberal democracies amidst rapid socio-political changes and growing extremism across the ideological spectrum. We assess the shifting dynamics within developed democracies of the Euro-Atlantic space, where increasing activism at both ends of the political spectrum complicates the search for a moderate political middle. The discussion delves into the complexities and unprecedented pace of social and political changes, examining their implications for governance amidst significant policy challenges, such as digital and environmental transformations, cultural debates, and migration issues. Additionally, we consider the effects of polarization, opportunism, and populism on effective governance, exploring whether this seeming disorder can be managed or even reversed, and what strategies might stabilize these trends in the short and long term.

Guests:
Hans Pung, President of RAND Europe

Hans Pung is President of RAND Europe, a not-for-profit public policy research organization that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis. Pung joined RAND as a policy analyst in 2002 and continues to lead and deliver research projects, particularly around industrial economics and security policy issues. Before joining RAND, Pung served as an engineer officer in the United States Army with responsibility for logistics, personnel, and operations and overseas service in the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Germany. His recent projects include Cost Modeling and Skills Analysis, European Defense Industrial Base Analysis, Future UK Military Capability Requirements, Improving Counter-Violent Extremism Intervention.

Nestor Maslej, AI Index Research Manager, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI

Nestor Maslej is a Research Associate at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). In this position, he uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies to conduct research for the AI Index and Global AI Vibrancy Tool. Nestor also leads research projects that study AI in the context of technical advancement, ethical concerns and policymaking. In developing tools that track the advancement of AI, Nestor hopes to make the AI space more accessible to both policymakers and citizens. His work is also oriented towards building knowledge about AI in a way that facilitates more productive dialogues surrounding its future and can lead to its development in ethically responsible ways. Prior to joining HAI, Nestor worked in Toronto as an analyst in several startups.

Elizabeth Nelson, Co-Founder, Head of Innovation & Content Smart Building Collective

The author of The Healthy Office Revolution, Elizabeth C. Nelson is a researcher, writer, and Co-Founder of the Smart Building Collective | Certification. She stands on the review board for Academic publications including Nature's Digital Medicine, Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), and Plos One. Her PhD in biomedical engineering focuses on our complex relationship with technology and a better way of living and working. 

Supported by: International Visegrad Fund

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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The National Research Cloud aims to bring together government, industry & research academia to create a cloud that enables better access to advanced AI technology to universities, research institutions & industry researchers. What would that mean for SMEs & research institutes to afford high-end AI tech? Is the USA losing it's AI edge over China? What about Europe?

Are Facebook's "policy changes" enough? What kind of influence do corporations have on Facebook & what do their ad withdrawals mean?

A bit of an update on GARI activities including our collaboration with Balsillie School of International Affairs of Waterloo University in Canada as well as our report on the energy transition in Europe and our work for the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Thank you to the International Visegrad Fund for supporting this podcast!

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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• Facebook & US elections update
• EU (& US!) vs Amazon on antitrust violations & anti-competitive behaviour
• Beijing drafts unprecedented antitrust rules for it’s Big Tech in a first attempt to curb the power of monopolies
• EU’s new budget & what does it mean for SMEs & generally research, technology, innovation, AI & more? A European shared data cloud? European technological sovereignty? 

How has Facebook fared during and after the US elections? What does a 45% rise in aggressive content on the platform mean and will it change? Amazon has been officially charged with anti competitive behaviour and antitrust violations due to using data on its third party merchants, it has conceded to this being possible however denies wrongdoing. In a completely unprecedented event, Beijing is drafting measures that would curb the power of its Big Tech giants and allow more control by the government. What does this mean for its monopolies and how they work? Last but not least, we looked at EU's new budget and especially on the Digital Europe Programme that has highlighted the need to develop Europe's technological sovereignty and boost digitalisation in our sectors - what do we think and what we need to keep an eye on?

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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Should vaccine producing countries supply lower-income countries with the vaccine? Why? How much will COVID19 cost the world if we provide an equitable distribution of the vaccine across countries and how much if just the ones that can afford them vaccinate? Freshly published fascinating report on the impact of COVID19 “vaccine nationalism” on the global economy.

RAND study (summary as well as entire study free): https://www.rand.org/randeurope/research/projects/cost-of-covid19-vaccine-nationalism.html

Key take-aways:

• The global cost associated with COVID-19 and its economic impact could be $3.4 trillion a year
• Even if the countries currently developing a vaccine are successful in inoculating a large portion of their populations the lack of access to vaccines for the rest of the world would still result in a GDP loss of about $1,232bn per year
• Based on previous estimates, it would cost $25 billion to supply lower-income countries with vaccines
• If high-income countries paid for the supply of vaccines, there could be a benefit-to-cost ratio of 4.8 to 1. So for every $1 spent, high-income countries would get back about $4.8
• The US, the UK, the EU and other high-income countries combined could lose about $119 billion a year if the poorest countries are denied a supply.
• COVAX - initiative to ensure equitable vaccine supplies across the globe. Over US$ 2 billion raised to support equitable access to COVID vaccines with a total of US$ 25 billion needed to support low to medium income countries

With this information - how is it possible that vaccine producing countries are still looking to act internally rather than pitch into globally equitable vaccinations?

RAND study recommendations:

1. Investing in vaccine development and equitable access would be economically beneficial in the long run.
2. To encourage international sharing of vaccines, we need enforceable frameworks for vaccine development and distribution, managed by established international forums.
3. The international effort to support vaccination distribution needs to be sustained over time.

RAND used a multi-country, multi-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to quantify the potential global economic situation in a post-lockdown pre-vaccine COVID-19 world and then to assess the economic implications of inequitable access to COVID-19 vaccines between countries or global regions.

Writers of the study: Marco Hafner, Erez Yerushalmi, Clement Fays, Eliane Dufresne, Christian Van Stolk

RAND Corporation’s mission is to help improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. It is one of the most, if not the

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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What makes the Volkswagen Machine Learning Research Lab different from other research institutions? Creating technologies that really work - not just creating methodologies that show it could work and publishing. Robotics literature has solutions but it always has some problems - solving them so that it can be applied is what is sustainable. 

“Our general technologies evolve around predicting the future and using those predictions to make optimal decisions. At the moment I know what's going to happen in the next 10 steps, or 100 steps, and I can not only predict the state of my system but actually predict what my sensors are going to see. I can use that to react to unforeseen changes in my environment.”

Patrick’s project 10toGo: “We have 10 more years to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It’s not much time, so we must act now. In fact the UN has named the next 10 years the #decadeofaction. 10toGO, brought to you by Volkswagen Group and Microsoft, is our first joint step of action: a kick-starting platform for sustainable, data-driven innovation.”

Patrick van der Smagt is director of the open-source Volkswagen Group Machine Learning Research Lab in Munich, focussing on probabilistic deep learning for time series modelling, optimal control, reinforcement learning robotics, and quantum machine learning. Besides publishing numerous papers and patents on machine learning, robotics, and motor control, he has won a number of awards, including the 2013 Helmholtz-Association Erwin Schrödinger Award, the 2014 King-Sun Fu Memorial Award, the 2013 Harvard Medical School/MGH Martin Research Prize, the 2018 Webit Best Implementation of AI Award, and best-paper awards at machine learning and robotics conferences and journals. In 2018, he started a for-good initiative "10toGO" by supporting teams using machine learning for the UN SDGs. Also then, he initiated etami, an initiative on Ethical and Trustworthy Artificial and Machine Intelligence, creating an organisation with almost 20 multinationals and universities.

GARI is a research institute that uses advanced technology, such as AI with Big Data, to visualise, understand and create the ability to manage globalisation.

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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With guest Cathy Mulligan on how cryptocurrency enters the debate about digital cooperation at a UN panel? Sustainability in 2030 when 30% of the world's energy will be taken up by cloud computing, thought experiments like “do you actually need a central bank?”, what does universal connectivity mean?

If you’re being forced to use particular technologies because you're a developing country, are you being colonised by digital means? “If you want people to think about ethics, you have to talk to them before they start coding”

Dr Catherine Mulligan is a Visiting Researcher in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship group with a joint appointment to the Department of Computing where she is Co-Director of the Imperial College Centre for Cryptocurrency Research.  Cathy delivers research in technical, economic and policy applications of digital technologies and digital transformation.  In addition to her theoretical research, she also has extensive experience of translating her research into real-world solutions for multi-national corporations and start-ups alike.

Cathay is VP and Region CTO of North and West Europe at Fujitsu. She is a Fellow and an Expert of the World Economic Forum Blockchain Council through the GULF and a member of the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Co-Operation.  

Until December 2017, Cathy served as standardisation lead for the Open and Agile Smart Cities (OASC) Task Force and Vice Chairman of the ETSI ISG on Context Information Management.  She was also a Visiting Fellow at the Glasgow School of Art Institute for Design Innovation (INDI)

“My aim in life is to deliver on the promise of digital technologies in a fair and equitable manner for everyone in society. I do this by providing a unique combination of research skills and real-world industrial experience in both technology and digital economics. I started programming when I was 10 years old and never looked back - I've had the privilege of helping various technologies take off - including mobile networks, IoT and blockchain.”

GARI is a research institute that uses advanced technology, such as AI with Big Data, to visualise, understand and create the ability to manage globalisation.

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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What you’ll hear in this episode with Prof. Jovan Kurbalija, Founding President of Diplo Foundation, ambassador of the internet, pioneer in cyber diplomacy and Head of the Geneva Internet Platform, secretariat member of the UN high-level panel on digital cooperation:

• As a person promoting technology for the past three decades, my question is what are we going to pass on?
• My concern is that generations (including mine) focus too much on project management logic of human society (outcomes, outputs, impact). And it's very popular in the European Union. I’m afraid that a lot of framing of current thinking is rather cognitive procrastination, trying to fit very complex reality into this project management framework.
• We have to regain artistic thinking (Havel, Hasek, Confucius…). The Enlightenment era was misused by people who were supposed to promote it and develop it further, especially through technology.  The pandemic has accelerated the need for these kinds of reflections.
• On Obama’s two visits to silicon valley, the first enthusiastic, the second sceptical and cautionary of the growing power of silicon valley. Then Trump’s leaking of the defence budget and immunity of tech companies that host social media.
• What are you working on at Diplo?: speech generator for diplomats, the future of meetings on open-source platforms
• What are the limits of AI? Where is philosophy? The Hobbs, Roussos, Kants of today? We’re becoming a bit chrono-narcissistic - we think everything is happening now.
• UN should understand technology but the UN shouldn’t be high tech. Big tech companies shouldn’t be governmental judicial organisation as google is becoming with the right to be forgotten or Facebook with this new court. 
• UN as a digital home for humanity?

GARI is a research institute that uses advanced technology, such as AI with Big Data, to visualise, understand and create the ability to manage globalisation.

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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Discussion with MEP Marina Kaljurand, former Estonian Foreign Minister with interests in cybersecurity, transatlantic cooperation and digitalisation on all levels.

What you’ll hear:

• Estonia as an e-nation:  “nobody has so far proved that online voting services are less secure than offline.” Estonia is the only country in the world that gives its citizens rights to vote online.
• The digital revolution has come to stay, smart ones are taking advantage and facing challenges. The majority of international law was written before the IT revolution but still, there are principles that should apply also to the digital cyber and online world.
• For centuries the state was the only one dealing with security (nuclear, chemical and conventional weapons) but cyber is different. The private sector owns critical infrastructure, is providing online services, and has the brightest IT geeks. We are at a stage where the government has to work with others.
• The topic of cybersecurity has come out of the basement. And there are more and more politicians who have overcome the stereotypes and are ready to accept that that's our new reality. We can't escape it. We don't write “internet” with a capital “I” anymore, that's a sign!
• Europe’s investment into R&D: “No regulation is better than bad regulation, and less regulation is better than more regulation”  
• How will transatlantic cooperation change with Biden? “We are natural partners. it's in the European DNA and in the US DNA to cooperate. Yes, we are competitors, like all good neighbours, but it's a positive competition, so I think that together we can be much stronger facing the new challenges, for example coming from China.”
• UN Digital Roadmap: I hope the roadmap will be a push and I hope that at some point we will come to a better organisation for digital cooperation globally. And it has to be on all levels, global, regional, state-to-state. Last year we celebrated 75 years of the UN and for the first time, the declaration included digital cooperation and cybersecurity. The UN security council is still stuck in 1945, it does not reflect today’s international affairs, but that's the only thing we have today
• Will COVID help build trust between sectors?: I would argue that the government has all the tools, all the opportunities to provide that they do care about people and they do bring digital into people's lives with best intentions doing it responsibly and respecting all their fundamental and human rights. The chance is there, whether governments will take advantage or not.

Marina Kaljurand is a member of the European Parliament, served as Estonian Foreign Minister, and Ambassador to several countries, including Russia during the cyber attack on Estonia in 2007 and to the United States, during the 2013 Snowden leak of highly-classified information from the NSA. She has played an important role as expert and negotiator in the accession negotiations of Estonia to the European Union and to the OECD.

Marina is a member of the

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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Bogolo Kenewendo is the founding president of Kenewendo Advisory, former Minister for Trade, Investment and Industry of Botswana. Bogolo led the Brexit trade negotiations on behalf of southern African nations and was a member of the UN high-level panel on digital cooperation. 

We discuss the African Continent Free Trade Area that was signed the 1st of January, the kind of questions her advisory company is being asked to work on, what benefits and challenges has COVID brought to the continent of Africa, and what was discussed at the high-level UN panel o digital cooperation, such as regulating and legislating digital firms, and how they had to add a statement in the report saying that “views on privacy and security differed sharply”.

Enjoy the podcast, and please subscribe and share!

• UN panel - talking about online technology while we need to talk about infrastructure on the continent of Africa. We need to start the conversation with ICT infrastructure as well as policy infrastructure  and be accommodative to technology that already exists on the continent
• African infrastructure: we can have laptops, but how will we charge them? Multilateral institutions need to invest in infrastructure.
• What are the enabling technologies emerging in Botswana and the south African region and what are the technologies that are more damaging?
• Mobile penetration continues to increase, and internet connection - and this means access to information.
• UN panel & regional differences:  it was mainly a lack of understanding and having the information of how things really are. Why is there hesitation towards a laissez-faire
   approach on regulating digital phones on the continent and what can be some of those challenges in regulating them?
• A bigger disagreement was around what is the right approach around regulating and legislating digital firms - do we just let them be and the free market will have that invisible hand or we ensure ourselves that there's the right regulation, that taxes are put in place.
• People do not see the fourth industrial revolution as a natural evolution of efficiency ( as was done with the second and third) there will always be a challenge in change and how things are done. Just toning down the language around technology can be a start, we are not communicating what will be the differences and changes and how they impact people’s lives.

Next week we’ll hear from Tony Curzon Price, Senior Advisor to the UK Cabinet Office, working for the Prime Minister. Our topic is: "Tools, Machines and Populism"

Global Arena Research Institute is an independent, non-partisan research organisation that combines the most advanced methods of AI-driven data, scientific and other artificial reasoning capabilities, elevating data science into completely new levels of opportunity. Our goal is to provide unprecedented insights into the nature, impact, and management of globalization in order to improve institutional and governmental as wel

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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This episode’s guests is Tony Curzon Price, strategic advisor at the UK’s Cabinet Office, and an advisory board member of ours, with a polemic of tech-positive and tech-negative perspectives discussing the future of work, can we highlight more tangible explanations for geopolitical as well as social activity other than values and identity, Using technology as a tool, not a machine and what are the limits to social understanding and society’s self-understanding?

• What is the relationship between the technological disruption that we're going through and the strange politics that we’ve been through in the past 10 years - is there a link? How big a fix does the system need to have all the benefits of machines?
• What is the evidence that we’re heading to big technological unemployment?
• Technology as a tool or machine? Empowering or replacing?
• Amazon’s first  non-US store without checkout, linking your face and behaviour to your amazon account
• Bullshit jobs - at least in the checkout jobs you know your purpose, in the bullshit jobs, you’re pushing paper around and you have absolutely no idea how this is adding to anyone's welfare 
• How to improve the adaptability of society in the rise of technology?
• The history of monopolies
• Simplifying the spirit of the age - what do we share globally and what do geopolitical events mean?
• Rodrik said that the rise and current power of right-wing populism has economic roots and that the conflict over identity and values is more of an alignment than the foundation - do you think a problem across the board of discussion is overly focusing on identity and values and not going deep enough into more tangible reasons (like economics), despite the latter being more discernible?
• Is identity a luxury good and are we enjoying more and more of it?
• Using technology as a tool, not a machine
• What are the limits to social understanding and society’s self-understanding?
• “Laissez-faire economists-types think they won the argument intellectually in the 1930s with Hayek and Lange and they won it actually with the fall of the soviet system and they think that that’s just done. I think that the data and technology revolution brings the calculation debate into question, that it was a contingent win, you couldn’t plan and organise things that were very complicated with the means at your disposal then. Now we have enormous means.

This podcast is hosted by the Global Arena Research Institute (GARI). GARI is an independent, non-partisan research organisation that combines the most advanced methods of AI-driven data, scientific and other artificial reasoning capabilities, elevatin

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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Our guests is Bennie Mols, renowned science & technology journalist with a background in physics & philosophy on his fascination with AI & robotics and his dream that one day the co-author of a paper will be an AI.

1. The history of artificial intelligence, from it being just science to being applicable
2. What is fascinating about AI?
3. What can AI NOT do?
4. How would you explain the pace, the rapidity of how the narrative around AI changed from curiosity to fear?
5. How to achieve a balance in journalism about AI?
6. Difficulties we must overcome in self-driving cars
7. Research & investment in AI in the US, China and Europe - how do we differ?
8. CERN for AI
9. Google, Twitter and Facebook - too much power?
10. How to combine the best of humans with the best of machines 

What is fascinating about AI?
Bennie: it combines three passions: science technology & philosophy - is it possible to build an intelligent machine? scientifically you answer this question as yes, but then technologically is how are we going to build this kind of machine? and from the philosophical point of view, what does it mean to be intelligent? If a machine is intelligent is it also automatically conscious? How are we able to measure whether a machine has consciousness or not?

In 2010 there was a positive narrative around AI, fast forward 5-10 years we see ethical issues pop up. Now the narrative is completely negative, the bias in data sets, jobs loss, black box decision-making... Designing AI systems requires you to think about values that are important to humans.

We don't have to be afraid of data, we have to think before we design a system. What are the values we want the system to stick to?

If you were talking to a low to mid-level employee - what would you tell them int he sense of “what's in it for you”? 

We need to think about how to combine the best of humans with the best of machines - hybrid intelligence. We need some reeducation of people.  

New enlightenment: Digital humanism - with three components:

1. humans should become more empowered and more digitally literate - giving people equal opportunity to use technologies
2. need to make technology more human
3. hybrid intelligence - the future belongs to people who best work together with AI

Global Arena Research Institute is an independent, non-partisan research organisation that combines the most advanced methods of AI-driven data, scientific and other artificial reasoning capabilities, elevating data science into completely new levels of opportunity. Our goal is to provide unprecedented insights into the nature, impact, and management of globalization in order to improve institutional and governmental as well as business, energy and other sectors’ decision making. Our mission is to make the most of organically connecting AI-level reasoning capacities with the human-level critical reasoning capacities for the s

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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This episode’s guest is Bill Shipsey, founder of Art for Amnesty, human rights activist and the bringer of culture to all things. We’ll be talking about his adventurous life of attaching U2, Sting and Joan Baez to Amnesty International, founding and then bestowing the Ambassador of Conscience award on Vaclav Havel, Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei, Alicia Keys and other inspiring advocates of human rights.

Shipsey was Co-Executive Producer of “Instant Karma” – Amnesty’s multi-star benefit album of John Lennon compositions. He devised and produced the Small Places Tour, a 2008 music concert project which partnered with over 800 concerts in some 40 countries worldwide. Shipsey first joined Amnesty in the late 1970’s – inspired in part by the activism of entertainers who performed at the Monty Python inspired “Secret Policeman’s Ball” benefit show.

He is a former Chair of the Irish Section of Amnesty International and a former member of the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International. By profession Shipsey is a Barrister and has appeared for Amnesty International before the Court of Justice of the European Union.  He has consulted widely with other human rights organisations around the world seeking to partner with artists in the promotion of human rights campaigns.

We talk about his recent article for the Irish Times about Aleksey Navalny and Amnesty International awarding him the title of Prisoner of Conscience despite his previous history of ultra-nationalist sentiment. We discuss culture and some of his many projects including his exhibitions with Peter Sis, how the journey began and unfolded with his friends from the world of music and art, including Bono and Peter Gabriel, and even the Human Rights Now world tour in 1988, headlined by Bruce Springstein and Tracey Chapman amongst others. 

Global Arena Research Institute is an independent, non-partisan research organisation that combines the most advanced methods of AI-driven data, scientific and other artificial reasoning capabilities, elevating data science into completely new levels of opportunity. Our goal is to provide unprecedented insights into the nature, impact, and management of globalization in order to improve institutional and governmental as well as business, energy and other sectors’ decision making. Our mission is to make the most of organically connecting AI-level reasoning capacities with the human-level critical reasoning capacities for the sake of a better future.

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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With guest is Manuella Cunha Brito, co-founder of Good Tech Lab and now Climatescape, joining us from France to chat about using technology to fight climate change, how to incentivize businesses and startups to be sustainable as well as challenges in turning research into real impact. 

Topics: Technology, Climate change, Impact investment, Sustainable startups, Decarbonisation, Carbon removal, Biochar - pyrolysis of biomass, Climate adaptation

• What are the technologies that are actually relevant for a low carbon future?
• Probability of climate action failure versus what the impact of that failure would be
• How to incentivise startups to be sustainable?: Actually, you have more chances at succeeding because they have a better chance at being relevant, it’s not so compromising and actually not more costly. You don’t need to compromise on financial returns to get a positive impact.
• Where is the balance between negative challenges around using technology and promoting that use and the positive opportunities of using and promoting technology? - in light of the deepening and many times misleading or misinformed narrative and conversation around technology 
• Who is usually the most uncooperative actor in tech global governance? 

Insight:

Limit of 2 degrees celsius in temperature is still very warm - it already means a lot of suffering for many people, extreme weather and other changes. We emit today about 51 giga tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year and we need to get to 0 by 2050. At the same time, improving the standard of living for millions of people around the globe will not be a small challenge. 

Helping investors to better understand how to use their economic resources to support innovation that matters and has a positive impact on the planet.  

Climatescape - creating a data powered market intelligence platform that will support people in making better decision in how they support startups in the climate tech space  

Global Arena Research Institute is an independent, non-partisan research organisation that combines the most advanced methods of AI-driven data, scientific and other artificial reasoning capabilities, elevating data science into completely new levels of opportunity. Our goal is to provide unprecedented insights into the nature, impact, and management of globalization in order to improve institutional and governmental as well as business, energy and other sectors’ decision making. Our mission is to make the most of organically connecting AI-level reasoning capacities with the human-level critical reasoning capacities for the sake of a better future.

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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Our guests is Holger Hoos, co-founder of CLAIRE, the Confederation of Laboratories for Artificial Intelligence Research in​ Europe, and professor of Machine Learning at Leiden University. I had the pleasure of joining Holger at last week's event  Vision for AI 2021 in response to the European Commission’s publishing their “European Approach to Artificial Intelligence”.  We’re chatting about the real back end of AI, its beginnings, why it’s so cool, where do we already encounter it in our everyday lives and what should Europe’s AI look like?

Why should I care about AI? What are the right reasons?

What would you have said to people 200 years ago on why should I care about electricity? Because it will change your life, work, everything, it will make things possible, it will make the world a better place, you can say the same about AI

It is a transformative technology. We have manoeuvred ourselves as humanity into a position where human intelligence is too limited for the mess we’ve made. We need more powerful tools than we’ve had in the past. Climate change and responsible and sustainable use of resources.

 A lot of people’s views of AI has been formed by science fiction movies, in some cases, this is rather dystopian and in other cases, it’s an overly optimistic view. Destroy us or make paradise? What we’re really looking at is a foundational technology, computers taken to the next level. 

Automative AI - bringing down the level of expertise needed to use AI. People become more productive and what they do becomes better than what they can do alone. 

Why is it the most underappreciated area of AI?  Examples of aeroplanes flying, computers enabling us to talk to each other via zoom, what is enabling us to do all this? Automative reasoning - the hardware on which all of this is running, (banks, medical equipment), all computer-controlled, and we trust the hardware.

Where should this not be used? If we were to date Mr Spock, we’d find that pure logic has limits. The same is for AI. Particularly when it comes to dealing with people, and all their limitations and bias.

Human-centred AI  - AI build by people, for people, for the benefit of people. We have to compensate for some of our limitations, and automotive reasoning and deep learning does this well. It should do all of this in order to help us reach our goals, and this isn't something you can do as a second thought, it needs to be designed with this purpose.

European AI - do we go it alone? Does it make sense to do anything of global consequence alone? No, it doesn’t!

CLAIRE - why does it exist? Because AI is important for our future, and all the citizens of Europe and the world. The two superpowers, China and the US are making massive investments, and there is a real risk of losing talent to them and the edge that we could and should have in AI technology that is so transformative.

Is there such a thing as US AI or China AI or European AI? What are the differences? At a simplistic level, AI in China is government-driven, which is a great thing

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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• Examples of AI technologies in the field of human rights
• How is AI practically used for the environment?
• 1.5/2 degree goal and tipping points for the climate, AI as a possibility?
• Successes and failures for AI in the fight against climate change
• How well is AI data received by governments?
• Which technologies are already being used for the climate?
• May new technologies be the solution to climate change?
• Carbon emissions in construction, can AI help?
• Impact of international AI panels?
• Future challenges and opportunities

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
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In this episode the European legend Joachim Bitterlich,  former advisor to German Chancellor Kohl and member of JEDI (Joint European Disruptive Initiative), joins us for a discussion on contemporary European affairs. Tune in for a conversation on the current, most pressing issues like strategic autonomy, Franco-German relations, the upcoming German elections and lastly Turkey and the EU. Bitterlich also shares a historical look back at the history of the EU and what could have been done differently.

Joachim Bitterlich, a senior expert on the European arena, entered the Federal Foreign Office already in 1976 and continued his career as an advisor in the private office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1985-87), head of the European Policy Department at the Federal Chancellor’s Office (1987-93) and Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl (1993-98). 

• Differences between Europe and the US.

Vaccine development on the two continents and the evident split - private or public funding, perseverance, failure of established forces and the European bureaucratic methods.

• Where is German politics heading and what will happen in the upcoming elections?

Joachim Bitterlich shares his predictions and thoughts on how the German party system is evolving.

• The issue of strategic autonomy - The future of the transatlantic relation and dependence on China and the US.
• The expansion of the EU in Eastern Europe och the continuous rift between East and West.
• The political integration and support of East Europe. 
• Sovereignty and European solidarity - a promising concept?
• Franco-German relations today.

Policy differences and the cultural translation of French and German rhetoric.

• Turkey in a vulnerable position.

The Turkish drift away from the West and the turn towards the East and South East.

Global Arena Research Institute is an independent, non-partisan research organisation that combines the most advanced methods of AI-driven data, scientific and other artificial reasoning capabilities, elevating data science into completely new levels of opportunity. Our goal is to provide unprecedented insights into the nature, impact, and management of globalization in order to improve institutional and governmental as well as business, energy and other sectors’ decision making. Our mission is to make the most of organically connecting AI-level reasoning capacities with the human-level critical reasoning capacities for the sake of a better future.

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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Today’s guest Banning Garrett has over four decades of experience as a strategic thinker, writer and speaker on international relations and global trends. As a consultant to both the World Bank and the United Nations, Garrett writes and speaks on long-term global trends and the impact of exponential technologies. After sixty-one trips to China since 1981 for consultations with Chinese officials and analysts, Garrett has also developed a thorough understanding of Chinese politics and shares his takes on the competition between China and the USA.

Garrett has been a part of taking forward the Global Trends report, a report used to brief former President Barack Obama, and he comments on its conclusions and shares his view on the challenges that humanity will have to face in the following decades. We must learn to navigate among the global challenges of future pandemics and the issue of healthcare, climate change and international agreements, population growth of urban areas in the Global South, and future food production, all of which are carrying the risk of migration and conflict. Furthermore, the question of climate change holds another dimension of complexity as us humans have brought it on ourselves. What happens with the responsibility and accountability when blame cannot be placed? 

Garrett continues with discussing China that, especially under Xi Jinping, has moved in a hyper-nationalist direction. He concludes that the Chinese government tries to create an almost totalitarian regime on technological steroids for internal control and suppression of descent like what has happened to the Uighurs,  and in Hong-Kong and Taiwan. He comments on the bipolar tech competition between China and the US and asserts that confrontation is possible, but not probable to a higher extent since the mutually assured nuclear destruction is too strong. The cooperation between the two states should focus on climate as, without Chinese-American collaboration, international dialogue is not going to be constructive.

Global Arena Research Institute is an independent, non-partisan research organisation that combines the most advanced methods of AI-driven data, scientific and other artificial reasoning capabilities, elevating data science into completely new levels of opportunity. Our goal is to provide unprecedented insights into the nature, impact, and management of globalization in order to improve institutional and governmental as well as business, energy and other sectors’ decision making. Our mission is to make the most of organically connecting AI-level reasoning capacities with the human-level critical reasoning capacities for the sake of a better future.

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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Dr Mark Galeotti joins Last Week on Earth for a conversation on Russia. Galeotti, Director of the consultancy firm Mayak Intelligence, Honorary Professor at UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies and Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI, has spent the last 40 years researching Russian history and security issues. In the episode, he gives an introduction his latest book A Short History of Russia while sharing some short anecdotes from Russia's history, specifically about the character that is Peter the Great.

Galeotti tells the history of modernisation in Russia and how different rulers have approached the subject, with occasional bloody despotism. Today in Putin's Russia, modernisation has partly advanced through technical solutions, but they are still lacking in rule of law and corruption. However, Galeotti describes how there might soon be an advancement of rule of law by the kleptocratic elite. These corrupted leaders, who have stolen from the public good, will soon get the incentive to create rule of law to protect their stolen plunder and support the transfer of wealth to the new generation.

There are many misconceptions about Russia, one of them being that the West assumes that Russia always, cunningly, has a plan. Like any other state, Russia is a diverse and opportunistic country, that is not as centrally controlled country as many people may think. They want to be perceived as strong and powerful, and they thus act accordingly, regardless of their actual geopolitical status. When looking at Russia, there is a consistent focus on Putin, who, on one hand is a powerful actor but far from the only one. Russia's administration is complex one with many important characters who often tend to get overlooked.

The discussion continues by addressing the new Biden administration, the recent summits and what the newly elected American president would like to see from Russia. The Russo-American relation is special and for Russia, the single most important actor is the US, thus meaning that the EU is not prioritised - the US have clear leadership and collective approach while the policy vision of the EU is a scattered one.

Global Arena Research Institute is an independent, non-partisan research organisation that combines the most advanced methods of AI-driven data, scientific and other artificial reasoning capabilities, elevating data science into completely new levels of opportunity. Our goal is to provide unprecedented insights into the nature, impact, and management of globalization in order to improve institutional and governmental as well as business, energy and other sectors’ decision making. Our mission is to make the most of organically connecting AI-level reasoning capacities with the human-level critical reasoning capacities for the sake of a better future.

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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Our 18th episode is joined by Alexander Ruiz, Founder of Phaedrus LLC, an engineering company supporting the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community, and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, who discusses the transforming digital arena and the ensuing threats.

Ruiz got into the cyber-digital domain in his early years. Inspired by 90s movies like Top Gun, Alex devoted himself to computer communication. He continued his career in the American Air Force, effectively understanding the complex digital systems and later on turning to engineering. He saw the international cyber norms changing, threats growing and the nature of conflicts transforming.

To navigate through the new era of disinformation, Alex raises the issue of acknowledging the problem. We need to recognise the underpinnings of the information that affects us. Firstly, there are nefarious actors actively feeding us false information to swing an election or shape public opinion, but there are also the commercial actors who are using marketing tools like algorithms and optimization to benefit their own shareholders. The reconciliation needed is in the form of policy, but to update our laws to control what companies are allowed to do, the challenge often lies in lawmakers not knowing enough about the industry that they are trying to regulate.

Another issue is the growing gap between the institutional cyber capacity of governments and the one of il/legitimate non-state actors. The technical incapabilities of governments will affect the relationship between the government and the governed. How the state actors are supposed to control disruptive and harmful information alongside sects and conspirators, all while safeguarding freedom of speech, is something that Ruiz believes will be a huge challenge in the future. This development can partly be curbed by new technologies that can groom the information environment in order to protect against nefarious actors and social collapse.

Global Arena Research Institute is an independent, non-partisan research organisation that combines the most advanced methods of AI-driven data, scientific and other artificial reasoning capabilities, elevating data science into completely new levels of opportunity. Our goal is to provide unprecedented insights into the nature, impact, and management of globalization in order to improve institutional and governmental as well as business, energy and other sectors’ decision making. Our mission is to make the most of organically connecting AI-level reasoning capacities with the human-level critical reasoning capacities for the sake of a better future.

If you want better insights into challenges and decisions you or your business are facing, GARI’s analytical services are of unmatched complexity and high accuracy - whether your questions are on the green energy transition, trade and supply chains, or political and security related - contact us for a free consultation and see how you can optimise your decision-making.
www.globari.org
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This episode’s guest is the American physicist Dr. William Colglazier. With an impressive resume, Colglazier’s long career has taken him to the Secretary of State, where he provided scientific and technical expertise and advice in support of the development and implementation of U.S. foreign policy as a Science and Technology Adviser. Today, he is the Editor-in-Chief of Science & Diplomacy and Senior Scholar in the Center for Science Diplomacy at the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Colglazier got his Ph.D. in theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology in 1971. He has since then worked at several prestigious institutes such as the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.  The years before his time at the Secretary of State, he oversaw studies in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Research Council (NRC) to provide independent, objective scientific advice on domestic and international public policy issues.

In this episode, Colglazier talks about his way into science and politics and his work to implement the Sustainable Development Goals through science, technology and innovation. He describes the current setbacks to science in public policies such as the Paris Agreement, Iran Nuclear Deal and the unpreparedness of the US in the recent pandemic.

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