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Bryn Freedman: So you said
that in the 20th century,
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global power was
in the hands of government.
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At the beginning of this digital century,
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it really moved to corporations,
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and that in the future
it would move to individuals.
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And I've interviewed a lot of people,
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and they say you're wrong,
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and they are betting on the companies.
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So why are you right
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and why are individuals going to win out?
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Fadi Chehadé: Because companies
cater to individuals,
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and we as the citizenry
need to start understanding
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that we have a big role
in shaping how the world
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will be governed moving forward.
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Yes, indeed, the tug of war right now
is between governments,
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who lost much of their power to companies
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because the internet is not built
around the nation-state system
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around which governments have power.
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The internet is transnational.
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It's not international,
and it's not national,
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and therefore the companies
became very powerful.
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They shape our economy.
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They shape our society.
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Governments don't know what to do.
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Right now, they're reacting.
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And I fear that if we do not,
as the citizenry,
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which are, in my opinion,
the most important leg of that stool,
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don't take our role,
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then you are right.
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The detractors or the people telling you
that businesses will prevail are right.
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It will happen.
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BF: So are you saying that individuals
will force businesses
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or business will be forced
to be responsive,
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or is there a fear that they won't be?
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FC: I think they will be.
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Look at two weeks ago,
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a small company called Skip winning
over Uber and Lyft and everyone
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to actually get the license
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for the San Francisco scooter business.
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And if you read why did Skip win,
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because Skip listened
to the people of San Francisco
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who were tired of scooters
being thrown everywhere,
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and actually went to the city and said,
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we will deploy the service,
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but we will respond
to the people's requirements
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that we organize ourselves
around a set of rules.
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They self-governed their behavior,
and they won the contract
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over some very powerful companies.
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BF: So speaking of guidelines
and self-governance,
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you've spent an entire lifetime
creating guidelines and norms
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for the internet.
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Do you think those days are over?
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Who is going to guide,
who is going to control,
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and who is going to create those norms?
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FC: The rules that govern
the technology layers of the internet
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are now well put in place,
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and I was very busy for a few years
setting those rules
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around the part of the internet
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that makes the internet one network.
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The domain name system, the IP numbers,
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all of that is in place.
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However as we get now into
the upper layers of the internet,
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the issues that affect
me and you every day --
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privacy, security, etc. --
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the system to create norms for those
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unfortunately is not in place.
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So we do have an issue.
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We have a system of
cooperation and governance
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that really needs to be created right now
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so that companies, governments,
and the citizenry can agree
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how this new digital world
is going to advance.
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BF: So what gives
a digital company any incentive?
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Let's say, Facebook comes to mind,
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they would say they have
their user's best interests at heart,
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but I think a lot of people
would disagree with that.
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FC: It's been very difficult to watch
how tech companies have reacted
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to the citizenry's response
to their technologies.
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And some of them, two or three years ago,
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basically dismissed it.
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The word that I heard in many board rooms
is, "We're just a technology platform.
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It's not my issue
if my technology platform
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causes families to go kill
their girls in Pakistan.
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It's not my issue. That's their problem.
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I just have a technology platform."
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Now, I think we are now entering a stage
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where companies are starting to realize
this is no longer sustainable,
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and they are starting to see the pushback
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that's coming from
people, users, citizens,
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but also governments
that are starting to say,
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"This cannot be."
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So I think there is a maturity
that is starting to set,
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especially in that Silicon Valley area,
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where people are beginning to say,
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"We have a role."
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So when I speak to these leaders, I say,
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"Look, you could be the CEO,
a very successful CEO of a company,
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but you could also be a steward.
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And that's the key word.
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You could be a steward
of the power you have
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to shape the lives and the economies
of billions of people.
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Which one do you want to be?"
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And the answer is,
it's not one or the other.
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This is what we are missing right now.
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So when an adult like Brad Smith,
the President of Microsoft,
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said a few months ago,
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we need a new set of Geneva Conventions
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to manage the security
of the digital space,
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many of the senior leaders
in Silicon Valley
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actually spoke against his words.
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"What do you mean, Geneva Convention?
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We don't need any Geneva Conventions.
We self-regulate."
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But that mood is changing,
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and I'm starting to see many leaders say,
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"Help us out."
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But here lies the conundrum.
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Who is going to help those leaders
do the right thing?
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BF: So who is going to help them?
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Give me, because I'd love
to interview you for an hour,
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but give me your biggest fear
and your best hope
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for how this is going to work out.
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FC: My biggest hope is that we
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will become each stewards
of this new digital world.
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That's my biggest hope,
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because I do think, often,
we want to put the blame on others.
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Oh, it's these CEOs.
They're behaving this way.
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Oh, these governments
are not doing enough.
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But how about us?
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How is each of us actually taking
the responsibility to be a steward
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of the digital space we live in?
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One of the things I've been pushing
on university presidents is
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we need every engineering and science
and computer science student
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who is about to write
the next line of code
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or design the next IoT device
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to actually have in them
a sense of responsibility and stewardship
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towards what they're building.
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So I suggested we create a new oath,
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like the Hippocratic Oath,
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so that every student entering
an engineering program
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takes a technocratic oath or a wisdom oath
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or some oath of commitment
to the rest of us.
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That's my best hope, that we all rise.
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Because governments and businesses
will fight over this power game,
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but where are we?
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And unless we play into that power table,
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I think we'll end up in a bad place.
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My biggest fear?
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My biggest fear,
to be very tactical today,
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what is keeping me up at night
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is the current war between
the West, the liberal world,
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and China,
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in the area of artificial intelligence.
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There is a real war going on,
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and for those of us who have lived
through the nuclear nonproliferation age
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and saw how people agreed
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to take some very
dangerous things off the table,
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well, the Carnegie Endowment
just finished a study.
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They talked to every country
that made nuclear weapons
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and asked them,
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which digital weapon
would you take off the table
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against somebody else's
schools or hospitals?
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And the answer,
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from every nuclear power
to this question was,
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nothing.
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That's what I'm worried about ...
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the weaponization of the digital space,
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and the race to get there.
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BF: Well, that sounds like
you've got a lot of work to do,
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and so do the rest of us.
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Fadi, thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
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FC: Thank you.
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(Applause)