Jordan's King Abdullah laments tech's effect on dwindling attention spans in UNGA speech
Jordan 's King Abdullah II on Tuesday warned that technology is causing attention spans to dwindle, which could affect geopolitical stability. Technology, particularly artificial intelligence , was a major focus of King Abdullah and US President Donald Trump's speeches at the UN General Assembly in New York. “The scale of knowledge and the speed of change are unprecedented,” Jordan's monarch…
King Abdullah II of Jordan expressed concern during his address to the UN General Assembly that modern technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), is causing people's attention spans to rapidly dwindle, potentially destabilizing international relations. He pointed out that average screen time has plummeted from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to just 47 seconds in the present day, highlighting the alarming shift in how societies allocate their focus.
The Jordanian monarch noted that images and videos from global conflicts are now accessible on mobile devices, underscoring the immediacy of information flow. Pointing out that "attention is more than a cognitive resource," King Abdullah lamented that the world has largely forgotten the plight of Palestinians, and asserted that the diminishing level of attention affects the UN's ability to address issues effectively.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump defended AI during his own UNGA speech, proposing to rebrand it as "superintelligence" to emphasize its transformative potential. Despite polls indicating U.S. voters' growing unease with AI, especially regarding cyber security and data center construction, Trump insisted the term "artificial" undervalued the technology's significance.
He dismissed calls for stricter AI regulations ahead of the November U.S. midterm elections, where party control of Congress remains uncertain. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan echoed King Abdullah's call for a global legal framework on AI, emphasizing the urgency of establishing a UN international convention to govern the technology's development and deployment.
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