Bhutan: Panel discussion on AI highlights need for balancing culture, technologies

Thimphu [Bhutan], August 8 : A panel discussion titled "AI in Bhutan: Balancing traditional and Technological Advancement" was held during the Bhutan Echoes to highlight the pros and the cons of Artificial Intelligence (AI), reported The Bhutan Live on Tuesday.
The Bhutan Live covers Bhutan news, politics, Bhutan culture and Bhutanese Buddhism. 
The event was attended by Profesor Toby Walsh, a chief Artificial intelligence scientist at the University of New South Wales in Australia who advocates that AI should be used to improve lives. He added that for Bhutan, education and healthcare can reap the benefits of AI.
He also cited examples of ChatGPt, an AI tool which is used for education. performing several tasks.
At the event former chief executive officer of Thimphu TechPark, Dr Tshering Cigay Dorji talked about the opportunities of AI for country like Bhutan.
“Unknowingly, we are benefiting a lot from AI. And besides that, AI can be used for education, AI can be used for environmental conservation, and AI can be used for improving efficiency and productivity at work. So, all we need is to leverage the data that we have. And through machine learning, we can implement all these different AI technologies at the workplace,” he was cited as saying in The Bhutan Live.
He added that although there are a lot of fears revolving around AI, it is time for the country to strike a balance between culture and traditions, and technologies.
“So, the very important thing for Bhutan now is how do we strike a balance between preserving our values and tradition and also adopting the technologies so that we can harness these technologies to solve the different problems that we face. And when it comes to AI because AI is a new technology that is all the buzz today in the world.”
The panel discussion also highlighted the need for regulations to prevent potential negative consequences from AI.