AI has proven its value in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic. AI technologies have the potential to be beneficial to the environment and ecosystems. AI can be a powerful tool to address climate change. However, AI cannot be a no-law zone.

There’s a saying by David J. Morris, “The problem is that while humanity continues to experience huge leaps in technology, we experience no equivalent leaps in our ethical capacity. In the never-ending arms race between technology and ethics, the technology always wins. Researchers who tally the results of this immortal race have a name for it: history.”

To ensure AI doesn’t land up as the horrendous last chapter of the human race, like the one in fiction movies, some legislative vacuums need to be filled. We need national and international policies and regulatory frameworks to ensure that this emerging technology benefits humanity as a whole.

We need a human-centered AI, one for the greater interest of the people, and not the other way round. Acknowledging this fact and underlining the need for global cooperation and solidarity to facilitate fair access to AI technologies and mitigate their potential misuse, UNESCO furnished the ‘Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence’.

“The instrument will not only protect but also promote human rights and human dignity, and will be an ethical guiding compass and a global normative bedrock allowing to build strong respect for the rule of law in the digital world.”

Aim & Objectives

The recommendation aims to provide a basis to make AI systems work for the good of humanity, individuals, societies, and the environment, and prevent harm. The objectives of the recommendation are:

• To provide a universal framework of principles, values, and actions to guide States in the formulation of their legislation, policies, or other instruments regarding AI, consistent with international law;
• To guide the actions of individuals, groups, institutions, communities, and private sector companies to ensure the embedding of ethics in all stages of an AI system lifecycle;
• To protect, promote, and respect human rights, fundamental freedoms, human dignity, and equality, including gender equality; to safeguard the interests of the present and future generations; to preserve the environment, biodiversity, and ecosystems; and to respect cultural diversity in all stages of the AI system life cycle;
• To foster multi-stakeholder, multidisciplinary, and pluralistic dialogue and consensus-building about ethical issues relating to AI systems;
• To promote equitable access to developments and knowledge in the field of AI and the sharing of benefits, with particular attention to the needs and contributions of LMICs, including LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS

Values & Principles

The recommendations also outlined a set of values to serve as motivating ideals in shaping policy measures and legal norms. These are:

• Respect, protection, and promotion of human rights, fundamental freedoms, and human dignity
• Recognition, protection, and promotion of environment and ecosystem flourishing
• Protection and promotion of diversity and inclusiveness throughout the lifecycle of AI systems
• Enable and ensure peaceful, just, and interconnected societies

While the above set of values inspire desirable behavior, there are certain principles outlined to unpack those values and ensure they are easily operationalized in policy statements and actions. These principles ensure strict adherence to:

• Proportionality and Do No Harm
• Safety and security
• Fairness and non-discrimination
• Sustainability
• Right to Privacy, and Data Protection
• Human oversight and determination
• Transparency and explainability
• Responsibility and accountability
• Awareness and literacy
• Multi-stakeholder and adaptive governance and collaboration

24 leading experts from across the globe have contributed to this text to ensure its broad, comprehensive, and diverse scope, and its promising delivery to provide AI with a strong ethical grounding, that delivers for people.

“The Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence will be a blueprint for global consensus on the ‘what,’ as well as the ‘how’ of ethical regulation of this game-changing technology. UNESCO stands ready to assist governments and other stakeholders in developing their capacities to address the challenges, including through the ethical impact assessment”, concluded Ms. Gabriela Ramos, the Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO.

Image by Fred Romero via Flickr