Artificial intelligence, according to Nicolai Tangen, head of Norway’s huge $1.4tn oil fund, is like being “in a rocket on the way into space . . . It’s hugely exciting, but it’s also scary.”
Stretching the metaphor to its limits, the head of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund adds: “We hope we’re in Apollo 11, not Challenger. The mission statement is to return safely.”
All this might just seem to be a glib soundbite, but the Norwegian fund is among the most advanced of any of the world’s big traditional investors in publicly articulating its thoughts on AI. This is not just on the balance between risk and opportunity from AI but also what it thinks the companies it invests in should be doing. As the importance of AI only grows, the oil fund’s stance is going to be well worth following.