It was all about AI as the Miami Tech Summit kicked off its 5th year Wednesday with a full house at the Perez Art Museum Miami. Summit organizers Justin Sayfie and Jose Felix Diaz once again brought their “labor of love” to Miami Tech Week with stimulating discussions among a mix of tech, political and civic leaders, both on stage and off. Everybody has an opinion about AI, but one thing speakers did agree on is that it is going to transform the world, for good or bad, and there’s still time to do the work collectively to ensure we get it right.
Just how will AI shape the future of work? Some researchers forecast 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs going away. Already, hiring in AI-exposed fields has already dropped 16%, and tech companies have eliminated at least 40,000 jobs so far this year.
From opposite sides of the aisle, former US Senator Laphonza Butler, an advisor to OpenAI, and Taylor Stockton, Chief Innovation Officer of the U.S. Department of Labor, seemed to agree more than they disagree. Taylor emphasized the need to focus on preparing the workforce for AI transformation rather than predicting job loss, citing apprenticeships as a way to get students up to speed quickly and discussing several programs the government has recently launched. Butler agreed, stressing the need for collective action in shaping the future of work. “We can’t sit on the sidelines and wait for government to fix it,” she said.
Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first elected female mayor and a former county commissioner that has long championed housing affordability, transit, resiliency, applauding the work of Miami Dade College and FIU in training the future workforce, but there is still more to do. ”We do not yet have a workforce training program that goes into every neighborhood,” she said, and she’s working on it. As for AI, she’s an early adopter and sees a lot of ways in government that AI can help make processes more efficient and less repetitive for workers, and she’s focused on trying to ensure that all of Miami – not just the wealthy – benefit from Miami’s transformation. Summit goers also heard from Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, MDC President Madeline Pumareiga, County Commissioner Rob Gonzalez, Florida Rep. Mike Redondo, and Simpro Group CEO Fred Voccola, among many others.
The power of community was also a theme of the fireside chat with Alonzo Mourning. After a 15-year career in the NBA, his focus turned inward, starting and greatly expanding the Overtown Youth Center that has provided a campus for kids age 5 to 25 for free. It’s been quite a success story in which 100% of the kids graduate high schoool and 92% go on to college, he said. “I wanted to be the change I wanted to see … and I wanted to pay it forward,” said Mourning, who spend time in a foster home as a young teen and without his foster mother’s guidance. “I could have easily gone another way.”
The Summit most thought provoking session was also the final talk of the day. Keynote speaker Tristan Harris has been on a mission to create “pro-human technology” after going to Stanford and spending time with the people who went on to create the social media companies “that have colonized how the world works,” he said. “A handful of people in Califormia that are making technology are starting to rewrite the rules of what drives the world.” They knew what they were doing, he said – “they were intentiaonally addicting and manipulating human psychology.”
Harris, who sounded the alarm in the massively watched Netflix documentary, is pleased that there have been several “massive wins” in lawsuits against Meta. He’s also is pleased that 25% of the world now live in countries that banning social media for kids under 16, “but we’re waking up very very late on this problem and we need to learn our lesson from social media as we move into AI.”
Now, he says, “AI in its current form is taking us into an anti-human future.” To avoid a race to the bottom, “everyone needs to see that were living in this anti-human technology paradign and that will motivate us to get to the pro-human future.”
Tristan Harris, right, and Justin Sayfie
The Miami Tech Summit ended with a big announcement. In December when Miami is hosting the G20, which also coincides with the USA’s 250th anniversary, one of the central pillars to be discussed in technology and innovation policy. Miami Tech Summit and will partner with an advisory firm to host a Global Tech Summit during the G20. And the partners will be inviting global technology CEOs and investors and international institutions in an effort to make the most the the G20 time in Miami in December.
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I am a writer and editor with extensive media experience and a passion for journalism and serving the community. Most of my career has been spent with the Miami Herald in business news, and my expertise is writing about tech and entrepreneurs. I love hosting this blog for Refresh Miami and we aim to be the go-to site for South Florida startup and tech news, features and views. Have news? Contact me at [email protected]. Thanks for reading! Latest posts by Nancy Dahlberg (see all)