This AI 'Hackfest' is about solving real-world problems

AI is one of the key topics governments would like to speak about to deeply understand how they can use it.

'Hack', in this day and age, is one word that all of us tend to dread.
And with good reason: it does commonly refer to the unwanted breach of systems, resulting in some of the most illegal activities we can imagine in cyber-space.
However, it's not really all that bad.
That's exactly what participants at Microsoft's inaugural Hackfest for the Middle East is trying to prove - that hacking is something businesses need to keep in pace with rapid technology. And the key focus of the event is artificial intelligence, today's ubiquitous innovation that is set to take over, to a certain extent, as we enter the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Khaleej Times sat down with Mik Chernomordikov, engineering and innovations lead at Microsoft Middle East and Africa, who shared insights why AI is helping 'hackers' - and why hacking shouldn't be feared. Excerpts from the interview:
 
When you hear the word 'hack', there's a negative connotation there. How can the industry dispel the negative notion?
First of all, from the English language, the term 'hack' is kind of being deep into technology. You've probably heard what's called a 'hackathon', which was used quite widely for the last several years, with people coming together for a day or two.
The notion [is the same with this] Hackfest, which is very similar in terms of what we are encoding but we are different in terms of why we are doing that. This Hackfest is a real business thing. It's real developers from real companies coming in to solve real-world problems. The outcome of such an event is that these companies have solved specific issues that they have or get an idea of a specific project they would do or get a specific insight of a platform they will use. [And] we found out that a Hackfest for specific technologies like AI is a really much better way for people to try it.
 
How does hacking and AI correlate to or complement each other?
Here [in the UAE], we decided to [hold the Hackfest] around AI for several reasons. One is that you're aware of the notion of the country itself here, the city of Dubai, the government's ambitions to use AI, to really change the way people live here, how companies work here and how the world will actually use this place as an AI hub. Second, we feel like a powerful AI platform is very interesting for companies here, because they can use it right away. to solve these issues just as they're trying. And third, you don't necessarily need engineers to spend several days with you; you can do it yourself, you can invite trainers, partners or developers and solve it - you can kind of solve it on your own.
You can use AI on a Hackfest on your own but if you combine it together, you can really make the benefit of both because it's advanced technology and advanced type of event coming together.
 

 
Do you see good hackers in the UAE?
Absolutely. Actually, in the UAE, what we see is a strong demand to make AI real. [2017 has] became the 'AI year', and AI is everywhere. In other places, it's still in a phase where people ask what it is; in the UAE, how we really see it is that people are really interested to know how to use it right now, or [the government] has its own goals to help citizens of the UAE to feel better.
We are looking for certain ways on how AI could calculate and do it right now. That's to me beauty of the landscape here in this country: when people are ready to use new technologies without waiting for another three to five years to see what's going on around.
 
In terms of AI infrastructure and deployment, how would you rank the UAE compared to other countries?
I would not compare country to country. The beauty of technology and AI specifically is that we collect all of the work to build a platform that is available to everyone - we call it the democratisation of AI.
It's now a very different world. I would say it's much more interesting, frankly speaking, to see when developers, data scientists, governments and customers from the UAE, the US, Europe and Eastern Europe come [to the UAE] and work on a set of problems to solve. To me, AI is really opening the world, not dividing it. And that to me is the beauty of technology today.
 
Do you think AI will eliminate more jobs that create them?
Definitely, AI is changing the landscape for all of us, including the work environment. Many people consider AI as part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and as you are probably aware the three revolutions before that dramatically changed the work environment.
We anticipate that AI will also change the workplace in a big way. And it [would] creates a lot of new jobs, but it [will] also change the set of jobs that we have today. policy-makers, lawmakers and other technology companies [need] to make sure that we tackle this problem comprehensively. In Davos, one of the reports there revealed that around two-thirds of the current children today who just started education will have a job that doesn't exist today when they finish. This is a collective notion that more new jobs will arise. Some people would say that it's a skills-based market now, so; it's not just about people who have particular jobs today, it's not about people who will have specific education - it's about everyone, including all of us.
 
How well-equipped is the UAE when it comes to AI?
I would not judge the country obviously. What's clear to me is that the government really sees the UAE as one of the leading places for the AI ecosystem, and you can see that for specific actions like the appointment of the Minister for Artificial Intelligence, sharing the UAE's AI principles and policy and strategy. it's become clear that the country believes AI will be inevitable; the UAE should be active on that ecosystem.
The second part is always the people who will make it real, and again it's not just about developers and data scientists - it's also about decision makers, both technical and business. AI is one of the key topics where the government would like to speak about to deeply understand how they can use it, and if there are any gaps they need to solve - gaps in terms of the skillset of people, gaps in terms of data readiness and so forth.
- alvin@khaleejtimes.com