Hello, I'm Anthony Butler.
This is my site where I frequently write about the impact of emerging technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, on societies and economies.
I am currently Chief Architect for an initiative to establish Saudi Arabia's global AI leadership and, prior to this, was Senior Advisor to the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) responsible for applied research and experiments with emerging technologies in the financial sector.
This follows a long career as Chief Technology Officer for IBM in the Middle East and Africa and as an IBM Distinguished Engineer focused mostly on leading innovative work in blockchain, AI, and cloud technologies.
I live in and am focused on supporting the development of one of the most exciting and future-oriented places in the world – the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
If you're interested in reading my thoughts as they get published, feel free to subscribe below.
Building National AI Sovereignty: A Strategic Framework
"Just deploy local data centers and you'll have AI sovereignty." I hear this surprisingly often from senior leaders and from vendors arguing that local deployment is the same as sovereign deployment. Unfortunately, this view isn't just oversimplified—it's dangerously inadequate in a world in which AI is becoming increasingly important
A graph pathfinding approach to FX liquidity challenges
In blockchain networks that are focused on enabling PvP cross-border payments, such as the BIS Innovation Hub’s mBridge, addressing the FX conversion requirement is important. There may be a challenge with these multi-currency payment networks around the liquidity of certain currency pairs. This can, of course, be solved by
Liquidity-saving mechanisms in trade credit networks: Optimising corporate liquidity
Trade Credit Liquidity Savings Mechanism vFTrade Credit Liquidity Savings Mechanism vF.pdf1 MBdownload-circle Trade credit, or the delayed payment for intermediate goods, has been reported as an important source of short-term external finance for many non-financial firms. The value of trade payables is comparable with that of outstanding corporate bonds
IP considerations in consulting/services agreements
As a result of Vision 2030, there is a tremendous amount of innovation occurring across every dimension of Saudi Arabia: from the digital transformation of government, the development of the gigaprojects (such as NEOM), or the vast efforts of the Public Investment Fund to accelerate the growth of the non-oil
Designing a privacy preserving rCBDC
There has been a lot of global debate about privacy in the context of retail CBDCs, particularly in the context of them being a replacement for cash. The perception is that the introduction of a retail CBDC would enable broad surveillance powers for the government as well as the ability
Decentralized Liquidity Savings Mechanisms with Privacy-Preserving Cryptography
In the context of the wCBDC discussion, there is a lot of focus on the standard lifecycle of the CBDC from issuance through to redemption but not as much consideration of the possible liquidity implications. One of the most powerful concepts in financial markets is the concept of the Liquidity
Money is a General Purpose Technology
There are certain technologies that are characterised as General Purpose Technologies (GPTs). These are technologies, like electricity or the computer, that have a very large economic impact: often at a national or global level. They are characterised by their broad usefulness and applicability to different sectors and applications; they are,
ChatGPT is the ‘Netscape moment’ for artificial intelligence’
Originally published in Arab News. It is impossible for anyone to have missed the excitement generated by ChatGPT. Countless articles on the subject have been written, including many by ChatGPT. While underlying technologies, such as deep learning, are not new, ChatGPT’s rich conversational interface has captured the popular imagination
AI might not take jobs but it will take tasks
Artificial intelligence (AI) and specifically Large Language Models (LLMs) are what is defined in the economics literature, as a General Purpose Technology. These are specific classes of technology that demonstrate improvements over time, become pervasive throughout the economy, and typically lead to the spawning of complementary innovations and positive spillover
On impossible grammars and Large Language Models
The interest in Large Language Models (LLMs) has led to a resurgence of popular interest in cognitive science. One of the interesting questions that come up is whether these models understand language; that is, whether they have developed some form of cognitive ability. The results of models such as GPT4
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