LinkedIn Co-founder Reid Hoffman Discusses AI's Transformative Potential At LSE

"If we harness AI correctly and collectively, society will experience super agency," says LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman at the London School Of Economics And Political Science.

Study in UK: Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and Inflection AI, addressed the gatherings of guests, staff and students at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

“Inventing things… is the easy part. Whether [new inventions] benefit the people they should, whether they have significant unintended consequences … is a matter of social science,” he said.

The discussions focused on three core questions including its influence on global dynamics, its disruptive potential within societies, and the origins of technology’s value. He said that the technology should be shaped purposefully to achieve the human's specific outcomes.

“We shape it not like clay - but like marble. It requires muscle, tension, and repetition and we must respect and acknowledge its properties while hewing it to our purpose," he explained.

Hoffman added, “Humans… are historically bad at transitions, transformative technologies eventually become indispensable. If we harness AI correctly and collectively, society will experience super agency.”

Hoffman emphasised the significance of inclusivity, and said, “AI is not a stagnant river. It is perhaps our fastest-moving body of water and soon, it will be the broadest and most far-reaching with its tributaries extending throughout society. Like the Nile and Euphrates, it can be the cradle of our civilization - if we continue to build with it.”

More Health Lost Than Gained From NHS Spending On New Medicines: LSE Study

A study on the new medicines approved by the NHS spending watchdog NICE said that while these medicines help some patients there is more health loss due to them. Huseyin Naci, Associate Professor of Health Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and lead author of the paper, said, “New drugs can be a lifeline for patients who have significant unmet clinical needs. However, innovative drugs are expensive, and their costs do not always justify the benefits they offer. After more than a decade of underinvestment in the NHS, it may no longer be justifiable to have a NICE threshold that doesn’t reflect the amount the NHS needs to spend to generate health. Lowering the threshold would allow the NHS to negotiate better prices for new medicines, taking into account not only the benefits to patients receiving these drugs but also the impact on other NHS users who may lose out due to resource reallocation.”

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