IMF Conference

8:30 am – 9:00 am

Registration and Light Breakfast

9:00 am – 9:05 am

Welcoming Remarks

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, IMF

9:05 am – 9:15 am

Introduction to the Forum

Bert Kroese, Chief Statistician, Data Officer, and Director of the Statistics Department, IMF

Session I. Opening Address

Embracing the Future – Navigating the Opportunities and Challenges of AI Adoption

How are organizations adopting AI and what kind of dangers and opportunities AI represents? AI is a reality which will reshape the operational, strategic, and ethical landscapes of businesses across various sectors, what would be the right balance of risks and rewards of adopting AI in organizations?

9:15 am –10:00 am

Keynote Speech: Susan Carleton Athey, Professor, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business

One-on-one discussion

Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director, IMF

Susan Carleton Athey, Stanford University

10:00 am –10:30 am

Coffee Break

Session II. Exploring the Horizon

Where AI is headed, and which sectors will witness the greatest impact

As AI develops, its impact on various sectors is becoming increasingly profound and pervasive. The prospect of "turning over the keys" to increasingly autonomous systems raise many questions. This session will explore the rise of AI, its transformative potential, and where its impact will be the greatest.

10:30 am –12:00 pm

Presentation of papers

Chaired by: IMF

Questions and Answers

12:00 pm – 1:30 pm

Lunch

Session III. Shaping the Future

AI’s Impact on Jobs and Productivity

This session will be dedicated to the implications AI will have on jobs and productivity. New AI tools can potentially change the way we work, raising productivity and boosting growth and incomes. This session will discuss how economies will respond as versatile robots and machine-learning systems potentially displace blue- and white-collar workers. It will consider important questions about how AI will affect the labor market and productivity and the type of statistics that are needed to quantify these changes.

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm

Presentation of papers

Chaired by: IMF

Questions and Answers

3:00 pm – 3:30 pm

Coffee Break

Session IV. Panel Discussion

AI for all – Navigating the Unevenness in Adopting AI

The adoption of technology is often uneven across countries. The result is that some countries are left behind and rather than enjoying the benefits of the technology they bear a significant share of the transitionary costs as the world embraces a new way of working. This session will explore (i) the type of policies countries are putting in place to responsibly adopt AI and ensure transitionary implications are addressed and (ii) the type of data needed to guide the development of these policies and monitor their application.

3:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Panel Discussion moderated by IMF

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Cocktail Reception

8:30 am – 9:00 am

Light Breakfast

Session V. Power Dynamics in AI

The distributional implications of AI

This session will discuss the development of wide-scale large language models which requires substantial investment. A handful of firms control the world’s most complex large language models. The firms that control AI will most likely also ‘control’ the related income flows, resulting in highly concentrated income flows with important distributional implications for the economy and society. This session will explore the type of statistics required to understand the income flows associated with AI, to whom they are flowing, and where they are flowing.

9:00 am –10:15 am

Presentation of papers

Chaired by IMF

Questions and Answers

10:15 am – 10:45 am

Coffee Break

Session VI. From Innovation to Regulation

How AI is being used by firms and regulated by governments

Each day, firms are discovering new use cases for AI. The number of applications is widespread, from adjusting insurance claims, to diagnosing medical conditions and producing and analyzing data. At the same time, there is a recognition that this technology must be used responsibly. This session will explore the various use cases of AI, the latest thinking about the responsible use of AI, and their regulation.

10:45 am – 12:00 pm

Presentation of papers

Chaired by IMF

Questions and Answers

Session VII. Measuring AI

Some early attempts to produce official measures of the “AI industry”, “AI investment”, and the “use of AI”

This session will highlight the work by the official statistical community to measure the size, scope, and structure of the “AI industry,” “AI investment”, and “AI use” and how the community adapts the internationally endorsed economic statistics reporting standards (such as the Balance of Payments Manual and the System of National Accounts) to capture this activity better.

12:00 pm – 12:45 pm

Presentation of papers

Chaired by IMF

Questions and Answers

12:45 pm - 2:15 pm

Lunch: An introduction to StatGPT

Session VIII. Panel Discussion

Measuring AI within Macroeconomic Statistics

This session will discuss some of the challenges to measuring the impact of AI on the economy. The session will discuss how statisticians need to update frameworks and data sources to estimate the effect of AI on GDP and aggregate productivity improvements, gains and savings across various industries, and its impact on employment and labor markets.

2:15 pm – 3:30 pm

Panel Discussion moderated by IMF

3:30 pm – 4:00 pm

Coffee Break

Session IX. Keynote Address

AI at a Crossroad – Opportunities, Risks, and the Path Forward

We are hearing about some of the extraordinary ways AI could benefit our societies, including helping us live healthier lives and accelerating scientific breakthroughs. Many experts also believe the technology could provide significant economic benefits, for example by providing a serious boost to productivity. This could help lift the global economy at a time when the growth outlook for the medium term is the weakest in decades. This said, many also agree that AI’s promise comes with considerable uncertainty and significant risks around labor market transition, security, privacy, misinformation, and ethical concerns. This session will explore where AI is headed over the short and median term and what kind of policy is needed to leverage the opportunities and address the challenges.

4:00 pm – 4:50 pm

In Conversation with the First Deputy Managing Director

Gita Gopinath, First Deputy Managing Director, IMF

Google Executive, tbd

4:50 pm – 5:00 pm

Closing Remarks

Bert Kroese, Chief Statistician, Data Officer, and Director of the Statistics Department, IMF

5:00 pm

Closure of the Forum