Towards an Inclusive Future in AI

Science & Tech

Duration project

In response to the accelerating potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform our lives, various governments, multilateral bodies, and other organizations have produced high-level principles and guidelines for the ethical use of AI in recent years. Despite the staggering number of such documents (over 90 by October 2019), there appears to be a relatively high degree of convergence on the level of principles. «Inclusiveness» is one of just a handful of principles that most actors seem to agree upon. However, a closer look reveals that the principle is interpreted very differently in terms of the domain, scope, and actors it pertains to. As the global community now works on transitioning from principle to practice, there is a clear need to specify what the principles mean in context and how they can be operationalized and evaluated.

To respond to this gap, the swissnex Network, ​foraus​, and AI Commons are launching the initiative “Towards an Inclusive Future in AI” as part of the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva on May 28-31, 2019.

The paper presents an in-depth exploration of ideas and proposals collected during the participatory process. It was presented on 24. October 2019 – together with the second paper resulting from the Policy Kitchen challenge “Towards a Swiss AI strategy” – at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, to 110 representatives of international organizations, the Swiss government, academia, civil society organizations, and the wider public.

Guest speakers included Amandeep Gill (Former Executive Director, UNSG High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation; Project lead I-DAIR & Policy Fellow, The Graduate Institute) and Sacha Alanoca (AI Policy Researcher, The Future Society).