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AI can provide millions of students with support to complete secondary education, fill an additional 3.3 million jobs, and, more urgently, help us tackle the spread and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with multiple advantages, these technologies also generate downside risks and challenges, derived from malicious use of technology or deepening inequalities and divides.

We need international and national policies and regulatory frameworks to ensure that these emerging technologies benefit humanity as a whole.

We need a human-centred AI. AI must be for the greater interest of the people, not the other way around.

UNESCO proposes the development of a  to provide AI with a strong ethical basis, that will not only protect but also promote human rights and human dignity. If adopted, it will be an ethical guiding compass and a global normative bedrock allowing to build a strong respect for the rule of law in the digital world.

Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO, on how to build the rule of law in the digital world:

5 things you need to know about AI

AI has proven its value in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic

It contributes to slowing down the economic impact of the crisis through digital platforms. It also helps researchers crunch huge amounts of data in the race to find a vaccine or treatment. AI has participated to contain the spread of the virus through test, track and trace technologies. Yet, as people are giving access to their data, the use of AI during this pandemic has reopened concerns regarding privacy, data protection and the use of data beyond the needs of virus-tracking.

AI-driven growth is likely to be highly unequal

AI is expected to generate nearly US$ 4 trillion in added value by 2022. By 2030, economic gains are expected to be strongest in China and North America, representing 70 % of AI’s global economic impact. AI has a “winner takes it all” dynamic that needs to be regulated: concentration of AI in the hands of few high-income countries will likely leave developing countries far behind. The latter will not benefit or very little from AI technologies and will lack ownership of such technologies.

AI contributes to widening existing gender gaps

Only 22 % of all AI professionals are women. Because they are underrepresented in the industry, gender biases and stereotyping are being reproduced in AI technologies. It is not a coincidence that virtual personal assistants such as Siri, Alexa or Cortana are “female” by default. The servility and sometimes submissiveness they express are an example of how AI can (continue to) reinforce and spread gender bias in our societies.   

AI can be a powerful tool to address climate change and environmental issues

As the planet continues to warm, climate change impacts are worsening. By gathering and analysing data, AI-powered models could, for example, help to improve ecosystem management and habitat restoration, essential to diminish the decline of fish and wildlife populations. That said, data extraction consumes nearly 10 % of energy globally. So, it is also essential to address the high energy consumption of AI and the consequential impact on carbon emission.  

AI cannot be a no law zone

AI is already in our lives, directing our choices, often in ways which can be harmful. There are some legislative vacuums around the industry which needs to be filled fast. The first step is to agree on exactly which values need to be enshrined, and which rules need to be enforced. Many frameworks and guidelines exist, but they are implemented unevenly, and none are truly global. AI is global, which is why we need a global instrument to regulate it.