- August 09, 2022
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UNESCO 193 member states adopt the first ever global agreement on the Ethics of AI
This text, adopted on November 25th, defines the common values and principles which will guide the construction of the necessary legal infrastructure to ensure the healthy development of Artificial Intelligence.
AI is pervasive, and enables many of our daily routines – booking
flights, steering driverless cars – and personalising our morning news feeds.
AI also supports the decision-making of governments and the private sector. AI
technologies are delivering remarkable results in highly specialized fields
such as cancer screening and building inclusive environments for people with
disabilities. They also help combat global problems like climate change and
world hunger, and help reduce poverty by optimizing economic aid.
But the technology is also bringing new unprecedented
challenges. We see increased gender and ethnic bias, significant threats to
privacy, dignity and agency, dangers of mass surveillance, and increased use of
unreliable AI technologies in law enforcement, to name a few. Until now, there
were no universal standards to provide an answer to these issues.
Emerging technologies such as AI have proven their immense
capacity to deliver for good. However, its negative impacts that are
exacerbating an already divided and unequal world, should be controlled. AI
developments should abide by the rule of law, avoiding harm, and ensuring that
when harm happens, accountability and redressal mechanisms are at hand for
those affected.
The content of the recommendation
The Recommendation aims to realize the advantages AI brings
to society and reduce the risks it entails. It ensures that digital
transformations promote human rights and contribute to the achievement of the
Sustainable Development Goals, addressing issues around transparency,
accountability and privacy, with action-oriented policy chapters on data
governance, education, culture, labour, healthcare and the economy.
Protecting data
The Recommendation calls for action beyond what tech firms
and governments are doing to guarantee individuals more protection by ensuring
transparency, agency and control over their personal data. It states that
individuals should all be able to access or even erase records of their personal
data. It also includes actions to improve data protection and an individual’s
knowledge of, and right to control, their own data. It also increases the
ability of regulatory bodies around the world to enforce this.
Banning social scoring and mass surveillance
The Recommendation explicitly bans the use of AI systems for
social scoring and mass surveillance. These types of technologies are very
invasive, they infringe on human rights and fundamental freedoms, and they are
used in a broad way. The Recommendation stresses that when developing
regulatory frameworks, Member States should consider that ultimate
responsibility and accountability must always lie with humans and that AI
technologies should not be given legal personality themselves.
Helping to monitor and evaluate
The Recommendation also sets the ground for tools that will
assist in its implementation. Ethical Impact Assessment is intended to help
countries and companies developing and deploying AI systems to assess the
impact of those systems on individuals, on society and on the environment.
Readiness Assessment Methodology helps Member States to assess how ready they
are in terms of legal and technical infrastructure. This tool will assist in
enhancing the institutional capacity of countries and recommend appropriate
measures to be taken in order to ensure that ethics are implemented in
practice. In addition, the Recommendation encourages Member States to consider
adding the role of an independent AI Ethics Officer or some other mechanism to
oversee auditing and continuous monitoring efforts.
Protecting the environment
The Recommendation emphasises that AI actors should favour
data, energy and resource-efficient AI methods that will help ensure that AI
becomes a more prominent tool in the fight against climate change and on
tackling environmental issues. The Recommendation asks governments to assess
the direct and indirect environmental impact throughout the AI system life
cycle. This includes its carbon footprint, energy consumption and the
environmental impact of raw material extraction for supporting the manufacturing
of AI technologies. It also aims at reducing the environmental impact of AI
systems and data infrastructures. It incentivizes governments to invest in
green tech, and if there are disproportionate negative impact of AI systems on
the environment, the Recommendation instruct that they should not be used.
Source: UNESCO