IGF 2019 WS #412 AI Readiness for the SDGs

Theme:

Subtheme(s):

Organizer 1: Civil Society, African Group
Organizer 2: Civil Society, African Group
Organizer 3: Civil Society, African Group

Speaker 1: RAYMOND OKWUDIRI ONUOHA, Technical Community, African Group
Speaker 2: Donggi Lee, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 3: Gero Nagel, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Laurent Elder, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 5: Rasha Abdulla, Civil Society, African Group

Policy Question(s):

What does readiness to use AI to implement the SDGs look like? What would it require? What societal, political, economic and capacity structures would need to be in place to effectively work towards the SDGs?

What are the opportunities that could help catalyse AI usage for achieving the SDGs?

What are the bottlenecks or challenges as well as obstacles to using AI to achieve the SDGs?

How can we measure and quantify potential progress in using AI to achieve the SDGs?

How can we identify and quantify potential harms caused to the SDGs by AI?

What about the ecosystem of Big Data and IoT that AI exists within? How can big data and the internet of things create an enabling environment for the SDGs. How can we make sure that relevant and useful data is collected? How can IoT be used to expand access to ICTs as well as to collect useful data.

Relevance to Theme: Artificial Intelligence can provide opportunities for digital inclusion as well as amplify digital exclusion. AI, through its ability to assist with devision0making is likely to affect the SDGs both in positive and negative ways. AI can augment opportunities for the management of health, delivery of government services, education agriculture and business. Whether AI contributes to inclusion or exclusion will require a conscious effort to understand the ecosystem in which it exists, the social justice impacts of AI, and the capacity to beneficially implement AI.

Relevance to Internet Governance: Artificial Intelligence a group technologies that will require governance, as well as inform governance and decision-making from the local to international levels. There are many norms and principles for AI ethics proposed by Civil Society Groups and the Private Sector as well as AI Policies of Governments, but there are few governance frameworks for AI. The GDPR does provide some frameworks for the processing of personal information by AIs and the “right to explanation” but there are very few actual governance frameworks for AI.

How can AI be governed so as to help best attain the SDGs?

Format:

Break-out Group Discussions - Round Tables - 60 Min

Description: Part 1: Introduction to the topic (10 minutes): The "panelists" will be introduced, and each panelist will be responsible for facilitating discussion in their respective groups.

Part 2: Breakaway group discussion (30 minutes):
Each breakaway groups will be assigned a different country to come up with an AI Readiness Strategy for their particular country, accompanied by a set of policy recommendations.

We will the breakaway into groups with each group coming up with a readiness strategy to use AI to implement the SDGs.

Each group will discuss what the societal, political, economic, and capacity aspects of an AI Readiness strategy would require in their assigned country, and will also be asked to explore potential bottlenecks or challenges and obstacles to using AI to achieve the SDGs. At the same time, they will investigate how potential progress as well as harms may be quantified and mitigated. Each group will come up with an AI readiness strategy for their assigned country as well as a set of policy recommendations.

Panelists discussion and participation will be augmented by audience and remote participation, and making use of online editing and Twitter hashtags.

There will be one or two breakaway groups of internet participants, they will make use of collaborative editing pads for coming up with their strategies and policy recommendations. Twitter and the RP software will be used for the internet group to communicate with each other.

Part 3: Group report back (20 minutes):

Each group will report back on their AI Readiness strategy and policy recommendations

Part 4: Wrap up: Panelists will respond to the inputs from the groups.

Expected Outcomes: - The outputs of the breakaway groups will be implemented into the final session report. This aims to increase audience participation and contribution to the IGF.

The session aims more generally to:
- Developmenta roadmap towards using AI to implement the SDGs.
- Indentify challenges and opportunities to using AI to achieve the SDGs.
- Quantify harms and benefits of using AI to achieve the SDGs
- Broaden participation in the IGF through the use of different online platforms
- Identify best practices in using AI to achieve the SDGs

Discussion Facilitation:

- Breakaway groups facilitate interaction fare better than panel discussions. We hope to add to interaction at the IGF through this format.

- Using the hashtag #AI4SDGs to facilitate discussion of the workshop on Twitter before and after the event.

- Through “crowdsourcing” a call for ideas towards using AI to implement the SDGs. We will do this with the collaborative editing pads (https://pads.riseup.net).

Online Participation:

The remote participation can be a bit tricky with breakaway groups. We hope to network with remote hubs before the event, possibly there can be breakaway groups at the remote hubs.

Proposed Additional Tools: - Breakaway group format
- Twitter
- Collaborative editing (pads.riseup.net)
- Networking with remote hubs

SDGs:

GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Reference Document