Today, world leaders gathered in a secretive meeting on the global governance of artificial intelligence. It was attended by more than 50 of the world's leading experts in AI. From IBM to Facebook and from Amazon to the U.N., representatives from all sectors and levels of government convened to map the future of AI. Futurism was fortunate enough to be there for the event. The goal of the roundtable, organized by the AI Initiative from the Future Society at Harvard Kennedy's School of Government and H.E. Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, the UAE's Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, was to address the challenges and opportunities AI bring and develop the strategies, guidance, and governance to help safely advance its evolution.

Automation is changing society as we know it. The precipitating effects of artificial intelligence (AI) seem like a double-edged blade. While it's certainly exciting to see robots manipulate their environment with a hive mind, it's equally as terrifying to think about what these advancements mean for society over time. It's an even stronger cause for concern when billionaire innovators like Alibaba's founder and chairman, Jack Ma, tell us to prepare for more "pain than happiness" in the coming decades due to the impact of AI and the internet. Ma has spoken at several entrepreneurship conferences on the topic, he believes that "social conflicts in the next three decades will have an impact on all sorts of industries and walks of life."