Uri Gabay, CEO of SNPI, which encourages innovation policy in Israel and guest of "Added Value," Israel Hayom's weekly economic podcast, warns of a sharp decline in investments in Israeli high-tech, is convinced that the talks at the president's residence are the No. 1 factor influencing Israeli high-tech in particular and the economy in general, and he believes that AI star Sam Altman's avoidance of a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu is related to legal reform – something that should worry decision makers.
"Since the beginning of the year, we have seen a trend of recovery in high-tech around the world, and in Israel in the first five months of the year, investments in high-tech amounted to only $3.2 billion – a low number that brings us back to 2018-2019. We will probably end the year on the order of $8 billion of incoming investments in high-tech. In comparison, in 2021 that number was $27 billion, and in 2022 – $17 billion."
"Added Value" Israel Hayom's Economic Podcast | Sonia Goroditsky hosts Uri Gabay, CEO of SNPI Institute
However, Gabbay notes that the decline in investments in Israeli high-tech began already in the second half of 2022, during the previous government's term. "Not all of this decline has to do with legal reform, and part of it has to do with the global recession," he notes.
Sam Altman: We didn't meet with Netanyahu, does it have anything to do with reform?
"I guess yes, if he found time to meet with President Herzog, he could find time to meet with the prime minister, I guess that's a function of the legal reform. When I was abroad this issue is well felt, the claim that Israel is going on the wrong track, the claims about the future of democracy in Israel are there, this is an event that is at the forefront."
Sam Altman, Photo: Gideon Markowitz
Should it worry Netanyahu that Altman avoided meeting with him?
"Of course. And what should worry us in general is the entire image of Israel, which is eroding in the world of technology, in the end most of the investments in Israeli high-tech come from abroad, on the order of 85-90%. These are people who invest here not because of Zionism, but because they think that Israel represents both technological progress and in a certain sense their world of values. If they feel that's not the direction, they can say we'll invest elsewhere.
"I think that what is most critical at the moment for Israeli high-tech is what is currently happening at the president's residence, the talks surrounding the legal reform, and we all hope that the people sitting there will reach agreements, stability and calm. The talks at the home of the president, the No. 1 factor that affects the Israeli economy and high-tech today. As we become more and more concerned with our problems, the world moves forward. The world will continue to grow and run and say: 'Oh, Israel used to be a high-tech superpower, it's now engaged in internal wars, we'll go to Singapore, London and invest elsewhere.' The aspiration is to return to the global trend."
So easily would they give up the Jewish mind?
"The minds here in Israeli high-tech, the Israeli talent – all this will continue to be, the question is whether it will be here in Israel. The question is whether he won't get on every plane and say I don't have the energy for this, the whole thing seems to be collapsing, I don't see my future here in Israel. It is enough for 20,<> of them to get on a plane in the next two years and decide that their future is not in Israel, and Israeli high-tech will take an unprecedented blow."
Will ChatGPT destroy humanity? "People have seen too many movies"
Gabbay does not believe that the advancement of artificial intelligence will lead to mass unemployment and to illustrate, gives an example of the invention of cars that replaced horse carriages, and says that there were professions that became extinct, but new professions were created in the automobile manufacturing industry, fuel, garages and more.
Illustration for artificial intelligence, GPT chat, photo: Reuters
"ChatGPT will be able to replace jobs that can be easily automated, for example programmers who write relatively simple code, we will be there very soon, within a year or two. In addition, the worlds of marketing and marketing - in the end it's words, and technology does it just as well, bookkeeping, content writers and more," Gabbay estimates, and hurries to reassure: "But there will be many other professions that will give up on this technology."
About a week ago, dozens of senior AI executives warned of the extinction of the human race by this technology. "I don't share that opinion. It's very hard to say what will happen in 50 years, it's already science fiction. We don't know what will happen. But to say the extinction of the human race is a bit of an exaggeration, yes it will have a very big impact on the labor market, really destroy us? It seems to me already people who have seen too many movies."
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