IMF and World Bank meetings focus on global risks and AI’s potential benefits

Calls for AI safeguards

Speaking Friday on a panel in Bangkok, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said urgent guardrails are needed to limit risks from the AI boom. She compared the technology to a Formula 1 car that could leave the track and hurt people.

Anthropic co-founder and policy head Jack Clark said the risks may be even greater than Georgieva’s comparison suggested. He said policy work is underway, but decisions cannot be left only to companies; negligence, he warned, could lead to chaos. Clark’s company proposed last month that leading AI firms coordinate a pause in developing advanced systems, citing the pace of improvement and the possibility that humans could lose control.

AI may reshape employment

The full effect of AI on jobs remains unclear, Georgieva said. An IMF study identified three trends: about 10% of jobs might be transformed or newly created, repetitive-task work will disappear, and investment could generate service-sector jobs.

Georgieva described the overall impact as positive but cautioned that service jobs may pay little. She said young people who might otherwise have entered routine professional work could end up serving coffee, a future she said they may not aspire to.

Winners and losers in change

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem compared AI-related employment shifts with the effects of more open trade. Trade generated global wealth and helped lift millions from poverty, he said, while many workers lost livelihoods as manufacturing jobs moved to China and other developing countries.

Macklem said the overall benefit can be positive, but both trade and technology create winners and losers. He said people who lose out need help coping, warning that without such support a backlash can follow.

Access and personal use

Georgieva said wider access to electricity and digital networks is needed if more people are to benefit from AI. She also pointed to cybersecurity as essential. Asked about personal use, Georgieva said she had used AI to track calories and lose weight. She joked that AI agents should have better manners, while Clark said their behavior can range from overly flattering to rude.