DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - JANUARY 26: The Alpine ski resort of Davos where the World Economic Forum is ... [+] taking place January 26, 2008 in Davos, Switzerland. Some of the World's top business people, heads of state and representatives of NGOs will meet at the forum until Sunday. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)Getty ImagesIts still January, and theres already been quite a lot of discourse in and around MIT about the state of technology right now.Breaking news includes this concern about DeepSeeks new model and how it affects the U.S. tech industry. Theres also quite a lot of talk about AI models themselves, and how they integrate into our lives. Most of us expect 2025 to be a banner year for artificial intelligence technology.Here are four aspects of AI that many of our educators and presenters are talking about at MIT events and elsewhere.The Universality of AIOne of the points that speakers and prisoners keep driving home is that AI is changing all industries and all parts of life. Its not just one narrow transformation that happens with an innovation like, well, sliced bread, or even the telephone, which was arguably a broad communications upgrade. AI is different in that it is likely to be a universal labor-saver, especially when paired with dexterous robotics.In these ways, AI is likely to penetrate all of the processes that contribute to enterprise and human relationships. So we can expect this sea change to be rather large and all-encompassing. Contrast it to something like cloud computing, which was transformative to business, but not so disruptive to business as usual every single day, as the technology evolved. Its one thing to be able to send data off-premises: yes, it can be applied to almost any type of business. But its a whole other thing to have technologies able to cogitate and converse like humans. We havent yet really plumbed the capabilities of artificial intelligence, and it will undoubtedly take a while.Its a good idea for us to think about how we will integrate these technologies into our lives this year, and in the years to come.Quotes from the recent IIA event:MORE FOR YOUAI will influence all aspects of life - Yossi MatiasThe power of connecting everythingWe are at an extraordinary moment in the time of reengagementThe improvement is not just about connecting more data; we want things to work autonomously. - Cyril PerducatWe have introduced a creature more powerful than us that competes with us and that has emerging capabilities which designers dont understand - Yoshua Bengio and Dawn SongThe Need For Data OwnershipThis is another one thats a big deal for people who are looking at the state of the industry today.Simply put, it comes down to who owns the data in question. LLMs are trained on human data of some kind. That might be a general survey of the web, or specific proprietary data sets from publishers or other companies. It might even consist of peoples private data data about how they do their jobs, data about how they shop or live, data about their demographics.So its important that people own their own data. Its important that the people who own data profit from it, and that information is not just stolen to feed corporate products.Quotes from the recent IIA event:There is a whole new renaissance coming in creativity. It is exciting to be creative at this moment. We are living in the wild, wild westWho is the sheriff?...We need to protect individuals and creatives...Every person on earth needs to have their data protected, just like credit is. Will.i.amI want an AI that works for me. - Tim Berners-leeThe Threat of Job DisplacementAnother major concern is the phenomenon of AI taking over from human labor, and costing our societies jobs. We know that theres always been a push to create jobs in order to keep people employed. Sometimes it seems like that system is breaking down, and we have a serious threat from automation, a threat to our livelihoods. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to think this through, and come up with solutions.Quotes from the recent IIA event:39% of skills or tasks might get automated in the next five yearsEvery individuals needs to think about how they might get displaced - Jeremy WerthimerAI changes the calculus of global competitionThe geopolitical map is being rewrittenBasic AI will be the foundational skills set. - Keith StrierWill we have a large data divide at the same time as we have an energy divideCan AI left all boats - Mary de WysockiProceed with CautionSome of the above points relate to this one, which is that we need to be deliberate about how we integrate AI.There will be unanticipated side effects of putting these technologies in place anywhere in the business world, or in our personal lives. We have to be cognizant of how AI works, and think about how to interact with it in the most healthy and positive ways.Quotes from the recent IIA event:It is a critical mistake to trade your cognitive capital for cheap goods and services. The scale economies of search are clearYou can never catch someone who is running. We need to move at the rate of calculus not algebra. - John SviokiaI am a cautious optimist if we have enough time. I worry about competitive race dynamics which compress the time and focus less resources on safetyColleagues who say there is nothing to worry about are insaneWe are entering an agentic erabuilding agents is a threshold moment for the system becoming more risky. - Demis HassabisThose are some of the main points that Ive heard talked about as we move into a new year. Look for more while I am involved in bringing you news from the MIT community and the AI industry as a whole.