CAMBRIDGE — The AI and Society Forum took place on May 12 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The event included discussions on the societal and economic implications of artificial intelligence.

The forum was held in the Tull Concert Hall in MIT's Linde Music Building. The event was co-organized by the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing. It was presented in collaboration with the MIT Generative AI Impact Consortium and the MIT Human Insight Collaborative.

Agustín Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and Dan Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, delivered opening remarks. Rayo stated, "Paying attention to the societal consequences of AI is not a departure from MIT's mission; it's a way of ensuring that our technical leadership has maximum impact." Huttenlocher said, "Understanding where AI excels and where it falls short is essential not only to unlocking its benefits, but also to avoiding critical errors, overreliance, and unintended consequences."

David Autor, the Daniel (1972) and Gail Rubinfeld Professor in the MIT Department of Economics, delivered a keynote presentation. Autor argued that AI will likely create new specialized work. He said, "When I think about how technology interacts with the value of labor, I think about it in terms of how it changes the scarcity of expertise, whether it makes it more valuable or whether it makes it more of a commodity." Autor stated that proactive policies around worker training, wage insurance, and broader capital ownership are required.

A panel discussion followed the keynote. Panelists included Daniela Rus, the MIT Panasonic Professor of Computer Science and director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Rus stated, "I'd like to imagine the robot as your friend and assistant, as someone who watches you and figures out how to help you as someone you can task at a high level." She added, "We could really think about co-work with the AI tools, but the role of the human as the decider, as the person with good judgment, as the person deciding the next step, whatever that is, remains super important."

David Mindell, a professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing, was also a panelist. Mindell stated that cargo flights require six pilots due to the length of the flight. He said, "We need to be supporting individuals, the economy, professions, to constantly be creating the new work." Mindell added, "It's absolutely imperative that we give the tools to the young people and let them do what they find creative and show us what the new work is going to be." Regarding pilot counts, he said, "We don't know how to take that six number down to five yet, much less two, one, or zero."

Sendhil Mullainathan, the Peter de Florez Professor with dual appointments in the MIT departments of Economics and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, also spoke. He said, "I think it's very much worth differentiating productivity gains from things that actually drive long-term growth." Mullainathan added, "If you said, 'exactly how will organizations restructure?' I don't know. But is there going to be a lot of restructuring? It's hard to believe there isn't going to be a lot of restructuring."

Chara Podimata, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, stated, "Algorithms decide a lot of things about our lives right now." Other panelists included Bailey Flanigan, Charles Stewart III, and Lily Tsai. Andrew Li, an MIT alumnus, played a piano during the forum, demonstrating the jam_bot performance system. Songyee Yoon also served as a panel moderator.