Bangla Press Desk: Artificial intelligence (AI) should be seen primarily as a productivity tool and an opportunity to create new employment rather than simply as a threat to jobs, speakers said at a discussion in Dhaka on Saturday.
They warned, however, that Bangladesh could face significant employment disruption unless it moves quickly to prepare its workforce, infrastructure and institutions for the rapid expansion of AI and other emerging technologies.
The discussion, titled "AI & Democracy: Shaping the Future of Employment", organised by Bangladesh Centric Activists Network (BCAN) Newsroom, was held at the auditorium of the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB).
Imtiaz Mirza, executive director of BCAN, said Bangladesh had failed to take advantage of successive technological revolutions and was now facing another major transformation with AI.
He said the country also lacked the investment ecosystem needed to develop a semiconductor industry.
"The government should take initiatives to build an ecosystem for semiconductor investment and development," he said.
Mr Mirza said AI had already displaced millions of programming-related jobs globally, but humans would continue to be needed to monitor, manage and supervise AI systems.
He described every crisis as a potential opportunity and said Bangladesh could turn the AI transition into an opportunity by developing the necessary skills and infrastructure.
Author and adviser to NICTF Maruf Mallick said Bangladesh needed to understand how AI would reshape employment and society rather than simply resist technological change.
He stressed the importance of preparing people and institutions for a future in which AI would increasingly influence economic activities and employment.
Presenting a paper virtually, architect and designer Marzia Mithila said Bangladesh should aim to produce "AI managers" rather than remain merely AI consumers.
She urged the country to focus on designing the future, designing algorithms and designing democracy in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.
Rezaul Karim Rony, poet and editor of 'Joban', said the country needed an AI policy soon as a UN convention on AI was due to be held next year.
"We have to have a plan and policy so that we can play a role," he said.
He said the country was now at a critical juncture and should use the AI transition to create a new generation of skilled workers instead of allowing technological disruption to deepen unemployment.
AI should be treated as a productivity tool rather than a substitute for, or competitor to, human workers, he said.
He said Bangladesh's challenge was therefore not simply to prevent AI from replacing jobs, but to ensure that workers were equipped to perform new tasks created by the technology.
He said the benefits of AI would depend on how effectively Bangladesh could combine technological advancement with creativity, adaptability, regulation and democratic institutions.
Rupam Razzaque, an IT professional and entrepreneur, said businesses should not necessarily seek to minimise employment through technology.
He said Bangladesh's biggest ICT-related company currently has 1,200 employees and that the ambition should be to expand the employment of a single entity to around 20,000.
Mozammel Hoque (Rebel Chowdhury), a software architect, said the Fourth Industrial Revolution was already under way and AI was advancing at an unprecedented pace.
Ronty Chowdhury, director of the cultural wing of BCAN, said Bangladesh currently lacked the necessary capacity, data infrastructure and policy framework to develop a competitive AI ecosystem.
He said the country needed to develop AI data centres along with the supporting energy infrastructure.
AI data centres require a huge and uninterrupted supply of electricity, he said, adding that Bangladesh currently relied heavily on conventional fuel-based energy but needed to move towards renewable energy to meet the growing power demand of AI infrastructure.
A battery-based power system for AI data centres could require another Tk 100 billion, he said.
He stressed that AI data centres require an uninterrupted electricity supply around the clock and, therefore, Bangladesh would need a reliable 24-hour power system supported by renewable energy and storage facilities.
Tareque Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh Aam Janatar Dal, senior journalist and political analyst Shahed Alam also spoke, among others.
