UNESCO Unveils Guidelines for ‘Ethical AI’

In brief:

 The world’s first international ethics guidelines for AI, which ban the technology’s use for “social scoring or mass surveillance purposes”, have been adopted by a United Nations specialised agency. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which has 193 member states and is widely credited for protecting landmarks known as World Heritage Sites, said the guidelines serve as a global set of “recommendations” instead of a binding agreement. While major AI proponents, such as China, see the technology as a tool to help transform a broad swathe of industries, its various applications – from apps, social media and online retail to social scoring platforms and surveillance systems – have raised what UNESCO describes as “fundamental ethical concerns” that may lead to “discrimination, inequality [and] digital divides” and claim that “these types of technologies are invasive and they infringe on human rights and fundamental freedoms.”  

Why this is important: 

In these newsletters we’ve routinely discussed the ethics of AI, China’s technological standing, and how AI is being used to infringe on human rights. China’s backing of the UNESCO guidelines may be an important step towards a fairer society, coming out around a month after China introduced its own set of ethical guidelines governing AI.