Information Technologies and Communication Authority hosted the SmartCon 2018 Conference, where topics such as big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and cybersecurity were discussed. BTK President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, who spoke at the program, drew attention to the increasing data processing speeds day by day.
The SmartCon 2018 Conference was held at the Information Technologies and Communication Authority's main campus. The program was attended by BTK President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, TÜSİAD President Erol Bilecik, Fujitsu Corporate Services and Solutions Director Cengiz Yeker, as well as numerous industry representatives.
BTK President Sayan, who pointed out that the rapid developments in data processing speeds affect everyone's life from 7 to 70, said, “These developments are just the beginning; a much bigger change awaits us. Digital technologies have brought about two developments rarely seen in human history. The first is the emergence of artificial intelligence. The second is the connection of the entire world through a digital network. The emergence of just one of these would not affect our growth expectations so profoundly. However, the combination of these two elements is the most important development since the industrial revolution, which completely changed the ways of doing physical work.”
Reminding that economic growth and development progress in line with technological advancements, Sayan stated, “Countries that succeed in developing technology and effectively utilizing the technologies they develop leave their competitors behind in the race for progress, while those that fail become increasingly dependent on the outside. We are now in an era where the great technological and digital transformation on a global scale requires a vast number of people, systems, and objects to be connected to each other simultaneously. In this era, where access to information and information transfer occur very easily and quickly, rapidly evolving information and communication technologies do not only create significant changes in economic and social life. They also create new opportunities and possibilities for individuals, institutions, and states. In short, as regulators, to you as technology developers and users, and to all of us, great responsibilities fall to effectively utilize these opportunities and possibilities.”
Disruptive Technologies Are Entering Our Lives Faster
Stating that concepts such as big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing were not discussed ten years ago, Sayan said, “One reason they have entered our lives so quickly is that they are disruptive technologies rather than classical ones. While most technological developments gradually shape existing market structures according to needs, these technologies, referred to as ‘disruptive technologies,’ quickly create a brand-new market structure with different values from the existing ones. Because this rapid formation defines its own rules instead of existing ones, it comes to life in an even more accelerated manner compared to classical technological development,” providing information on the current state.
President Sayan also spoke about artificial intelligence technology, which we have been hearing about frequently lately. Expressing that scientists have been pondering the subject for many years, Sayan said, “With the presentation of the first applications of artificial intelligence to the public eye, we saw it suddenly become the focus of the world. We see that efforts on artificial intelligence are being accelerated at the level of heads of state around the world. Recently, the European Union also published a White Paper on what needs to be done to keep Europe in the artificial intelligence race. The European Union admits that it is lagging behind in artificial intelligence research and aims to catch up with the rest of the world by 2020 with 20 billion euros in support.”
Horizon 2020 Programs Are Very Important for Artificial Intelligence
Stating that the Horizon 2020 programs, which Europe actively uses in 5G and of which Turkey is also a part, are an important tool for artificial intelligence, Sayan said, “I think that Turkey should maintain close contact with Europe and other superpowers in artificial intelligence, just as in every other field, and mobilize all our resources, especially human resources, to not fall behind in the technology race. On the other hand, we must not ignore the warnings of experts regarding the disruptive effects of artificial intelligence. In February, researchers from prestigious universities such as Cambridge and Oxford gathered and published a detailed report on the malicious uses of artificial intelligence. The report reveals how negatively artificial intelligence, when misused, can affect our digital security, physical security, and ultimately the political stability of our world.”
Sayan explained the problems that artificial intelligence could cause by giving the example of Cambridge Analytica as follows: “Actually, we saw an example of this misuse very recently. In the Cambridge Analytica scandal that came to light through the unauthorized use of users' Facebook data, it was revealed that the Cambridge Analytica company managed to measure sensitive personal information such as skin color, sexual orientation, and which party they would vote for with 85% accuracy using artificial intelligence-based learning algorithms, based on just 68 likes of any Facebook user. The company even stated that it could define the behavioral characteristics of every Facebook subscriber better than their friends with 70 likes, better than their family with 150 likes, better than their spouse with 300 likes, and better than themselves with a bit more. Undoubtedly, although the Cambridge Analytica scandal is not a positive example in terms of artificial intelligence and big data, it is an eye-opening and surprising example in terms of demonstrating the potential of artificial intelligence.”
Data Is the Raw Material of Artificial Intelligence
Defining data, another important topic, as the raw material of artificial intelligence, President Sayan stated in his speech, “Although artificial intelligence technologies have existed for years, the phenomenon that enables them to advance at incredible speeds is the explosion of data, that is, the raw material of artificial intelligence. Every day, we make billions of searches on Google, providing a real-time dataset from which Google can learn about typos and our search preferences. This big data is stored with cloud computing solutions, another disruptive technology, processed through new and smarter systems, and ultimately converted into meaningful results. Product developers use this big data for technological development and design better-performing products using the results obtained from this data.”
TÜSİAD President Bilecik: Those Resisting Technological Change Will Be Eliminated
Following President Sayan, TÜSİAD President Erol Bilecik also made a presentation titled “Surfing the Waves Brought by Technological Change.” Defining change as an inevitable reality of life, Bilecik said, “Those who resist change are eliminated, those who adapt survive. Technology is one of the elements that change and affect our lifestyles and work lives. These developments, with their incredible magnitude, constitute the 4th Industrial Revolution. The only way to survive in this era is change.”