AI Opportunities for Global South
Dec
04
05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Livestream
AI in emerging markets
In the webcast, David Yanagizawa-Drott, Professor of Development and Emerging Markets at the UZH Department of Economics and Affiliated Professor at the UBS Center, will discuss recent empirical evidence and ways to think about how the technology can be shaped in a positive direction, with a special focus on human productivity in emerging markets.
With the ever-increasing capabilities of generative artificial intelligence (AI), a central question for society is how human productivity in various tasks and occupations will be affected. Will these machines empower people, increasing their productivity and wages? Or, will the machines be so good, cheap and fast that they will replace humans for many tasks? These questions are frequently debated, but most of the discussions are largely ignoring the particular challenges and opportunities in the Global South.
Live from the UZH Studios, you could follow a presentation on the topic and submit questions via Mentimeter. The host was Elliott Ash, Associate Professor at the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences at ETH Zürich.
This was a public event with free access via livestream on our website in association with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
In the webcast, David Yanagizawa-Drott, Professor of Development and Emerging Markets at the UZH Department of Economics and Affiliated Professor at the UBS Center, will discuss recent empirical evidence and ways to think about how the technology can be shaped in a positive direction, with a special focus on human productivity in emerging markets.
With the ever-increasing capabilities of generative artificial intelligence (AI), a central question for society is how human productivity in various tasks and occupations will be affected. Will these machines empower people, increasing their productivity and wages? Or, will the machines be so good, cheap and fast that they will replace humans for many tasks? These questions are frequently debated, but most of the discussions are largely ignoring the particular challenges and opportunities in the Global South.
David Yanagizawa-Drott is Professor of Development and Emerging Markets at the UZH Department of Economics and Affiliated Professor at the UBS Center
Speakers
Professor of Development and Emerging Markets, Affiliated Professor at the UBS Center
David Yanagizawa-Drott received his PhD from IIES at Stockholm University in 2010. At that point, he was hired as Assistant Professor at John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He was then promoted to Associate Professor in 2014. In 2016, he was hired as a full professor at University of Zürich. His research has shown that propaganda can cause violent conflict, studying the impact of hate media during the Rwanda Genocide. David has also examined the role of political protests in shaping policy outcomes and elections, establishing evidence that they can be highly effective in moving public opinion. In developing countries, a lot of his work focuses on the how to improve health outcomes and economic outcomes for poor households. In this line of work, for example, David implemented a randomized field experiment that showed that a simple Community Health Worker intervention in Uganda, based on a social entrepreneurship model, reduced child mortality by more than twenty percent. David is a member of several research networks, such as Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), The Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), European Development Research Network (EUDN) and Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). His work has been highlighted in various international media outlets, such as the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Economist and various national TV news broadcasts in the U.S.
Elliott Ash is an Associate Professor and the Chair of Law, Economics, and Data Science at ETH Zurich. For the Autumn Term 2024, he is a Scholar in Residence at New York University Law School. Ash is also a Scientific Lead (Human-AI Alignment Horizontal) in the Swiss AI Initiative, CEPR Research Affiliate (Political Economy), Associate Editor at Economic Journal, and recipient of a European Research Council Starting Grant. Elliott Ash held previous research appointments at University of Warwick (Assistant Professor) and Princeton University (Postdoc). He earned a Ph.D. in economics and J.D. from Columbia University, a B.A. (Plan II Honors) from University of Texas at Austin, and an LL.M. in international criminal law from University of Amsterdam.
Professor of Development and Emerging Markets, Affiliated Professor at the UBS Center
David Yanagizawa-Drott received his PhD from IIES at Stockholm University in 2010. At that point, he was hired as Assistant Professor at John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He was then promoted to Associate Professor in 2014. In 2016, he was hired as a full professor at University of Zürich. His research has shown that propaganda can cause violent conflict, studying the impact of hate media during the Rwanda Genocide. David has also examined the role of political protests in shaping policy outcomes and elections, establishing evidence that they can be highly effective in moving public opinion. In developing countries, a lot of his work focuses on the how to improve health outcomes and economic outcomes for poor households. In this line of work, for example, David implemented a randomized field experiment that showed that a simple Community Health Worker intervention in Uganda, based on a social entrepreneurship model, reduced child mortality by more than twenty percent. David is a member of several research networks, such as Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), The Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), European Development Research Network (EUDN) and Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). His work has been highlighted in various international media outlets, such as the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Economist and various national TV news broadcasts in the U.S.
Elliott Ash is an Associate Professor and the Chair of Law, Economics, and Data Science at ETH Zurich. For the Autumn Term 2024, he is a Scholar in Residence at New York University Law School. Ash is also a Scientific Lead (Human-AI Alignment Horizontal) in the Swiss AI Initiative, CEPR Research Affiliate (Political Economy), Associate Editor at Economic Journal, and recipient of a European Research Council Starting Grant. Elliott Ash held previous research appointments at University of Warwick (Assistant Professor) and Princeton University (Postdoc). He earned a Ph.D. in economics and J.D. from Columbia University, a B.A. (Plan II Honors) from University of Texas at Austin, and an LL.M. in international criminal law from University of Amsterdam.