Black entrepreneurs are advising people to confront their “fears about artificial intelligence,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
At this year’s Philly Tech Week for the “Artificial Intelligence, Black Realities: Unpacking AI’s True Impact” panel, nearly 200 people gathered to discuss artificial intelligence, or AI, per the Inquirer.
Led by Sulaiman Rahman, founder and CEO of DiverseForce, other panelists included Shelton Mercer, founder and CEO of Virtuous Innovation; Deborah Roebuck, founder and CEO of Going Through Change; and Akinyemi Bajulaiye, founder of Pentridge Media.
In his speech, Rahman told attendees that as AI becomes more common and is implemented into daily life, people need to accept its reality.
“AI has been around for the last 30 years, but it was behind the scenes,” said Rahman per the Inquirer. “ Now it’s in the hands of individuals.”
Per the latest report by Forbes, AI is expected to continue to grow by approximately 13 times, projected to increase to $407 billion in the next three years; that figure is compared to the $84.9 billion revenue it generated two years ago in 2022. Overall, an annual growth of 37.3% is expected each year from 2023 to 2030.
Businesses are expected to contribute to a large amount of AI adoption.. Approximately 64% of businesses have confidence that AI will help them increase productivity as they implement them into their inner workings.
According to IBM, one of the main uses of AI for companies is to help address labor shortages. A quarter of companies are reportedly using it to deal with having fewer employees.
We know the potential Philly has to thrive in tech. Thanks to @1phltech for organizing the #PTW24 Tech Town Hall, our panelists for sharing your insights, @CMThomasPHL for working towards growth, @uacoalition for hosting, & everyone who came to participate in these conversations. pic.twitter.com/AEHqX0NuND
— Philly Tech Week (@PhillyTechWeek) May 11, 2024
As businesses continue to and plan to implement the technology into their everyday life, researchers, however, pose that it could create an overall issue for Black households in the U.S.
Per a report by McKinsey released in February this year, although generative AI is projected to increase household wealth across the country by almost $500 billion, a majority of this wealth will be unevenly distributed.
By 2045, with the overall wealth gap between Black Americans being $0.38 out of every dollar newly acquired, the $500 billion total increase could lead to a wealth gap between Black Americans and white Americans that amounts to approximately $43 billion each year.
“The advent of generative AI could unintentionally deepen the racial wealth divide, posing a significant risk to Black workers,” said researchers at Forbes. “Going forward there is still an opportunity to build equity and fairness into their developing Gen AI strategies and associated applications, and to accelerate the closing of the racial gap.”
