Multimodal’s Learnings from Spring Symposium 2024

Upon invitation, our founder, Ankur Patel, was honored to speak at the Griswold Center for Economic Policy Study (GCEPS) Spring Symposium 2024 at Princeton University.

A prestigious invite-only event gathered on April 26-27, 2024, leading economics, policy, and technology experts to discuss the economic implications of artificial intelligence.

Ankur contributed to the event with his expertise in the AI field, securing a foremost voice position in the conversations on AI’s role in shaping the global economy. 

Here’s what our founder covered and learned at the event, as well as how it helps our company progress and harness the power of AI.

Key Takeaways

• Spring Symposium is a private, invite-only in person event that includes alums, students, and faculty.
• Our founder shared thoughts and ideas with some of the brightest minds from Princeton, MIT, Goldman Sachs, and Google.
• The supply of labor is decreasing, and AI can help meet the demand.
• AI isn’t here to replace workers but to help them work faster and better than before.
• The middle portion of the market is most affected, especially office work, where tasks can be automated.

What Was Discussed at the Spring Symposium

The main topic of the event was the economic implications of AI, where an esteemed panel of the brightest minds in economics, policy, and technology discussed topics like:

• Is AI a threat or an opportunity
• What sort of impact is AI having
• What kind of impact will AI have in the near and distant future
• What does it mean for governance

David Autor, Ford Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, opened on the first day. The second day was opened by Jan Hatzius, chief economist and head of Global Investment Research at Goldman Sachs.

David Autor laid the foundation for the symposium with his opening keynote, in which he leveraged his experience and expertise as the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT. 

The second day was opened by Jan Hatzius, with a presentation that provided a comprehensive economic outlook and expert insight into the financial sector.

After a short break, there was a panel of three speakers:

• Kay Firth-Butterfield, chief executive officer, Good Tech Advisory, and senior research fellow, University of Texas Austin
• Elad Hazan, Professor of Computer Science, Princeton University and co-founder and director, Google AI Princeton
• Ankur Patel, our founder and chief executive officer

The event concluded with closing remarks from Hal Varian, chief economist at Google and emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His synthesis of the discussion provided attendees with a deeper understanding of AI’s trajectory and its broader economic effects.

Ankur Patel’s Discoveries

Ankur, being the leading voice in AI, helped give perspective on the industry insight from his experience of building AI for companies and early-stage start-ups.

The Aging Demographic and AI’s Role

One of the central takeaways from the event was the global challenge posed by an aging demographic. As the labor supply reduces, AI emerges as a critical solution for sustaining productivity.

The discovery is that AI is changing the way we work, but it’s not something people should be fearful of. It is an adjustment, particularly for the affected current labor force. Still, it’s not the worst-case scenario where AI is taking over jobs.

Beneficial Impact of AI

AI is going to be a more significant benefit to society, with inevitable dislocations. Another discovery is that the high-end and the low-end markets are the least affected. In contrast, the middle portion of the market is the most affected. This primarily affects white-collar jobs and office work, where work can be automated.

Ankur mentioned that the idea of AI isn’t to replace people and that he believes it might not even be possible. AI’s goal is to augment people and provide a tool that helps them work faster and better than ever before.

The Future of AI

While, technically, there might be fewer people hired in the middle or back office in the future, the current workforce that’s well-trained is doing a great job. As a result, companies and businesses leveraging AI technology will become beneficiaries.

As demographics and AI go hand in hand, these were some of the critical pieces of the private, invite-only event. Alums, students, and faculty had a fascinating conversation about the impact of AI on the economy at large, not only in the present but also in the next 10 to 20 years.

How Multimodal Fits In

We are the critical link that introduces people and businesses to AI tools that can help middle and back office get work done faster and better than before. By leveraging our AI Solutions, companies can complete work 4-5 times faster and get more work done within the same time frame. Additionally, it adds more value to the organization, improves its operating margins, and ensures a better customer experience.

Being much more than an observer, as an experienced participant, our focus as a company is on assisting businesses through this transition. By helping implement AI to boost productivity, create jobs, and shape industries, we aim to prepare businesses for the changes ahead.

We believe that you need to have a good strategy for AI adoption that aligns technological advances with business growth. That’s how we help ensure businesses are well-equipped for this inevitable shift.

Are you a business leader seeking to harness AI power? Connect with us and book a free 30-minute consultation with our experts today to see how our AI Solutions work in action.