The UNSG’s HILAB-AI report “Governing AI for Humanity” proposes seven recommendations for governing AI. The report also emphasizes enhancing global cooperation for AI governance.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is undoubtedly transforming everything, be it a human life or a work setting. However, it also presents a serious risk of bias and surveillance. This may not only harm the working setup but also breach human rights. So, how can AI be governed for humanity?
To address this, the United Nations Secretary General High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence (HILAB-AI) released its final report “Governing AI for Humanity”.
Based on insights from more than 2,000 participants across regions of the globe, “Governing AI for Humanity” highlights the transformative potential of AI and outlines principles that will guide the formation of new international AI governance institutions.
Governing AI for Humanity: What’s Inside the Report?
The report highlights 7 key recommendations to address critical gaps in Global AI Governance:
1. The Creation of An International Scientific Panel on AI: The purpose behind creating the panel on AI is to issue an annual report surveying AI-related capabilities, opportunities, risks and uncertainties. It aims to encourage a shared foundational understanding of AI globally.
2. Launch of Policy Dialogue on AI Governance: This recommendation proposes an intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder policy dialogue twice a year. The purpose of the dialogue is to share best practices on AI governance, promote common understandings on the implementation of AI governance measures, share voluntarily significant AI incidents that challenge state agencies, and discuss reports of the International Scientific Panel on AI.
3. Creation of an AI Standards Exchange: This recommendation proposes to bring together representatives from national and international standard-development organizations, technology companies, civil society and representatives from the international scientific panel to develop and maintain a register of definitions, debate and evaluate AI systems.
4. Establishment of an AI Capacity Development Network: This recommendation is intended to establish a network to link up a set of collaborating, UN-affiliated capacity development centres making available expertise, compute and AI training data to key actors.
5. Global Fund for AI: The UNSG High-Level Advisory Body on AI recommends creating a global fund for AI to address the AI divide. Managed by an independent governance structure, the fund would receive financial and in-kind contributions from public and private sources and disburse them, including via the capacity development network, to facilitate access to AI enablers to catalyze local empowerment for the SDGs.
6. Forming of a Global AI Data Framework: This recommended framework would outline data-related definitions and principles for global governance of AI training data. It would also establish common standards around AI training data provenance and use for transparent and rights-based accountability across jurisdictions.
7. Creation of an AI Office within the Secretariat: This recommended office would act as a coordinating body, supporting the implementation of the other recommendations and proposals. This office would advise the Secretary-General on matters related to AI.
Built on months of extensive global consultations, the “Governing AI for Humanity” report emphasizes addressing AI-related risks.
Global AI Governance Gaps
The “Governing AI for Humanity” report identifies three key gaps in the current international AI governance effort: Representation, Coordination and Implementation.
Representation: Many parts of the world have been left out of international AI governance conversations, primarily in the global South. According to the report, 118 countries are parties to none of the sampled AI governance initiatives/instruments.
Coordination: Initiative and institutional coordination gaps create the risk of dividing the world into disparate and incompatible AI governance regimes. The UN system is likewise deficient in coordination. Even though several UN bodies address AI governance, none do it thoroughly due to their distinct mandates.
Implementation: For commitments to global AI governance to be held accountable, they must be put into action. This includes supporting small and medium-sized businesses and developing their capabilities in order to share opportunities.
Other Highlights from the Report
The UNSG’s High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence report “Governing AI for Humanity” also emphasizes AI’s potential in advancing science and its economic opportunities.
The report further highlights the risks of AI such as bias in AI systems and invidious AI-enabled surveillance. Other risks associated with the use of advanced AI include the confabulation of large language models (LLMs), high resource consumption and risks to peace and security.
According to an AI Risk Global Pulse Check survey conducted by the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology (OSET), 7 in 10 experts polled were concerned or very concerned that AI harms will become substantially more serious or widespread in the next 18 months.
Overall, the “Governing AI for Humanity” report presents a vision for global AI governance to address gaps and enhance global cooperation in AI implementation. Based on the mechanisms for common understanding, the report proposes to find common ground on how AI should be governed at the international level.
As AI continues to advance and grow, the report emphasizes a roadmap to address the challenges and opportunities this technology will bring to the world. Furthermore, the report calls for a closer alignment between international standards for how AI is developed and rolled out.
We will bring you another article on AI policy and regulations for the adoption of this suite of technologies for good.
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