Kay Firth-Butterfield is a globally recognised leader in ethical artificial intelligence and a distinguished AI ethics speaker. As the former head of AI and Machine Learning at the World Economic Forum (WEF) and one of the foremost voices in AI governance, she has spent her career advocating for technology that enhances, rather than harms, society.

We spoke to Kay to discuss the promise and pitfalls of generative AI, the future of the Metaverse, and how organisations can prepare for a decade of unprecedented digital transformation.
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Generative AI has captured global attention


Generative AI has captured global attention, but there’s still a great deal of misunderstanding around what it actually is. Could you walk us through what defines generative AI, how it works, and why it’s considered such a transformative evolution of artificial intelligence?

It’s very exciting because it represents the next iteration of artificial intelligence. What generative AI allows you to do is ask questions of the world’s data simply by typing a prompt. If we think back to science fiction, that’s essentially what we’ve always dreamed of — just being able to ask a computer a question and have it draw on all its knowledge to provide an answer.

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