For two days, governments, policy-makers, industry leaders, academics, scientists, technology innovators, civil society and the UN community met at ITU's AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, Switzerland. As the convenor of the event, ITU is pleased to have been able to bring these parties together to find practical applications of artificial intelligence to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Recognizing the urgency brought on by the emergence of generative AI and the challenges posed by AI, participants also discussed the need for guardrails and global AI governance frameworks.
A variety of ideas related to the future of AI were presented at the AI for Good Global Summit. These include setting up a registry of new or anticipated AI applications, a global observatory on AI and new institutional bodies, as well as proposals to empower existing organizations that may already have the expertise and structures to tackle challenges brought on by AI. It is important to analyse what's feasible, what's already available and what can be done so that a roadmap is created for the short, medium and long terms. Leveraging its expertise, the UN group on AI led by ITU and UNESCO is geared up to help move forward efforts on these.
ITU is committed to AI standards development and capacity building, supporting responsible AI development and deployment, and driving strong collaboration with all stakeholders. We need to show the world what an inclusive, safe and responsible AI can do for humanity. Together with our UN partners, ITU will work to integrate AI capacity support into our digital transformation offerings, and we will undertake sector-focused AI readiness work in critical areas such as health, smart mobility and smart cities, and advance universal health.
From here on, our work on AI at ITU, the UN system and society as a whole should only grow in intensity. While ITU focuses on ensuring that the 2.7 billion people that are offline around the world get connected to digital technologies, we are also committed to ensuring that AI serves everyone, everywhere for the greater good.
Source: https://www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/Pages/2023-07-07-statement-ai-for-good-global-summit.aspx