Opening keynote

Doreen Bogdan-Martin champions inclusive AI for a united future at AI for Good Global Summit

Doreen Bogdan-Martin delivered a compelling keynote at the AI for Good Global Summit, emphasising the critical role of artificial intelligence (AI) in shaping a future that benefits all of humanity. She began by expressing gratitude to the numerous UN partner agencies, the Swiss government, sponsors, speakers, and attendees who are integral to the success of the AI for Good platform.

Highlighting the stark reality of the digital divide, Bogdan-Martin pointed out that one-third of the global population remains disconnected from the digital world and the opportunities AI presents. She stressed the urgency of addressing this divide, questioning how future generations will judge the current generation’s response to such a significant challenge.

Bogdan-Martin framed the AI revolution as a pivotal moment for the current generation, calling it an opportunity to take responsibility for the integration of humanity and technology. She noted the progress made in regulatory initiatives by governments and regions to safeguard AI development and use. Despite diverse approaches, she identified common principles centred on three pillars: risk and security management, infrastructure and resource development, and international collaboration and cooperation.

The speaker expressed concerns over the potential fragmentation of AI governance and emphasised the need for inclusivity, particularly for developing and least developed countries. She underscored the importance of global coordination, as echoed by the UN Secretary-General, to build AI that is safe, inclusive, and accessible to everyone.

Bogdan-Martin conveyed optimism about the emerging AI regulatory landscape, viewing it as an opportunity to ensure that every country and voice is heard. She highlighted upcoming events such as the UN Summit of the Future and the WSIS Plus 20 review as critical opportunities to unify efforts and act in a coordinated manner. She also referenced the historic UN General Assembly resolution on AI as a significant step towards promoting safe, secure, and trustworthy systems.

Focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Bogdan-Martin emphasised AI’s potential to contribute to 70% of the SDG targets. She cited examples of UN agencies using AI in over 400 projects across all 17 SDGs, indicating a positive trajectory.

Inclusive AI innovation was another focus, with Bogdan-Martin sharing inspiring examples from the AI for Good innovation factory, including Bionics, a Pakistani startup creating artificial limbs, and Ultrasound AI, a US-based startup predicting premature births. These examples illustrated the transformative impact of AI on individual lives.

The speaker’s final wish was for AI systems to be safe, secure, and trustworthy. With 2024 set to be the biggest election year in history, she highlighted the threats posed by deep fakes and disinformation campaigns. She discussed the convening of experts to establish robust standards for AI watermarking and digital content verification.

Bogdan-Martin concluded by challenging the audience to consider the role of AI in humanity’s future, calling for decisive action to turn aspirations into reality. She advocated for a balance between fostering responsible AI and encouraging innovation, with human creativity and intelligence taking precedence over algorithms in shaping the future.

Throughout her speech, Bogdan-Martin’s tone conveyed a sense of urgency and optimism. She presented a vision of a future where AI is harnessed for the good of all, with humanity at its core. Her call to action was directed at all stakeholders to collaborate and ensure that the AI revolution benefits every person on the planet.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin:
Good morning, and welcome to the AI for Good Global Summit. Let me start by thanking our more than 40 UN partner agencies, the government of Switzerland, our sponsors, all the speakers and presenters who will take the stage over the next two days. You are the beating heart of the AI for Good platform, the largest UN multi-stakeholder platform on AI. I also want to thank all the leaders from government, from industry, the UN, academia, the technical community who joined us yesterday for the AI Governance Day and who are with us again today. You’ve shown that AI risks are not inevitable. And you’ve shown us that together, we can and we must harness the power of artificial intelligence for all of humanity. So that’s where I want to start today. So I would ask you, look to your left. I would ask you to look to your right. And I would ask you to imagine, imagine that one of you has never, ever clicked on a link or you’ve never sent an email or experienced the internet. In 2024, in the age of AI, in the age of unimaginable opportunities, one third of humanity remains completely offline, excluded from the AI revolution, without a voice. What we in this room take for granted remains completely foreign to 2.6 billion people around the world. This digital and technological divide is no longer acceptable. How, ladies and gentlemen, will future generations judge us? It’s time for us to recognize that the AI revolution is our moment. It’s truly our moment, because we are the AI generation. And this is our moment, and it’s our responsibility to write the next chapter in the great story of humanity and technology. And to make it safe, to make it inclusive, and to make it sustainable. While the increasing pace of AI development forces us to act faster than those that have come before us, I think it’s fair to say that we’re actually not starting from a blank page. In the past several months, governments have raced, they’ve raced to establish protections around the development, around the deployment, and around the use of AI. And it’s not just countries. We’ve also witnessed the emergence of regional initiatives and legal frameworks. All of these regulatory initiatives, national and regional alike, they may take different approaches. They may reflect different levels of technological development and capabilities. And especially when it comes to computing power, AI infrastructure, and talent. Yet for all of their differences, I think it’s fair to say that we are seeing something in common. We are seeing underlying principles, underlying principles that take shape around three pillars. Three pillars that will not only drive inclusion, inclusive growth, and innovation, but also help to build a safer and more secure digital future for all of humanity. So the first pillar is risk and security management. Government efforts, governance efforts, have really highlighted the need for greater focus on areas such as risk monitoring, incident reporting, and content authentication. There’s a strong call for harmonized AI standards to ensure a rights-based approach that addresses safety, that addresses security, and of course also addresses ethical principles. The second pillar is infrastructure. Infrastructure and resource development. Access to computing resources is top of mind, as the majority of investments are currently concentrated in just a handful of countries. Skills development is equally important if we are to have the talent necessary to advance AI technologies responsibly. Developing diverse, high-quality data sets is also a priority. It’s a priority if we want to create robust and unbiased systems. The third pillar is international collaboration and cooperation. There is a clear recognition of the importance of both maximizing the benefits of AI while also managing its risks. And we have to do that responsibly through greater international collaboration and cooperation. We have to do this through collective action. All this represents significant progress in a very short period of time, but as we saw yesterday at our AI Governance Day, we’re not quite there yet. The risk of fragmenting the governance landscape is real. There are still pressing gaps that we must address, and we need to bring everyone to the table, including developing and least developed countries. And as we just heard from the UN Secretary General, he reminded us that we need global coordination to build safe and inclusive AI. Safe and inclusive AI that is accessible to all. So ladies and gentlemen, I want you again to look at the persons next to you. Chances are they come from a country that’s not part of the efforts I just described. They may have just started their AI journey, or they’re simply contemplating it. As Winston Churchill once said, the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity, while the optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. So call me an optimist, but I see this nascent AI regulatory landscape as a unique opportunity. A unique opportunity to ensure that every country and every voice counts. The UN Summit of the Future in September and the upcoming WSIS Plus 20 review of the World Summit on the Information Society are going to provide critical opportunities to be able to unify our efforts and to act in a coordinated manner. So let’s use the United Nations as a catalyst for progress. The recently adopted UN General Assembly resolution on artificial intelligence I think in many ways was historic. It promotes safe, secure, and trustworthy systems. Let me also add that a recent analysis that was led by the ITU and our partner UNESCO has also shown that existing laws and existing normative frameworks in the UN are applicable to AI. But as I said, we do have a lot of work to do. But as governance efforts start to move, and this is one of the reasons we’re here, as they start to move from principles to implementation, we must now turn and gain and gather that momentum and turn it into progress for everyone, everywhere. Because we are in a race against time. Recent developments in AI, I think it’s fair to say, have been nothing short of extraordinary. The discovery of AI, among others, has brought us one step closer to a human-level AI. And for many, we’ve let the genie out of the bottle. And if this genie could grant three wishes, what would they be? Well, for me, my first wish is clear. To scale AI solutions to rescue the SDGs. That’s what I would wish for. Because we see devastating floods from Afghanistan to Kenya, the worst drought in the Amazon rain forest in at least half a century, super cyclones ravaging the planet. Ladies and gentlemen, too often, it’s the most vulnerable that are hit the hardest. Poverty is spreading, with more than 3 billion people living in countries where governments actually now spend more on debt interest payments than they do on education and health care. Under current trends, it will take close to 300 years for the world to achieve gender equality. And the list goes on. The SDGs are off track. Meanwhile, AI can accelerate progress on 70% of the SDG targets. UN agencies, I think it’s fair to say, we know this firsthand. Using AI in more than 400 projects covering all 17 SDGs. As this year’s UN activities report on AI, coordinated by ITU, demonstrates that we now have twice as many efforts and initiatives as we did this time last year. So we are moving in the right direction. But of course, we need more. And we need more inside and outside the UN. So my second wish would be to make AI innovation inclusive. So let me give you a couple of examples from the AI for Good innovation factory. And there are many. But I’m just going to share two. So the first is Bionics. Bionics is a Pakistani startup that designs artificial limb solutions. And there’s a little boy. And his name is Mohammed. When Mohammed was four, he received his new arm. He received his new arm after a very tragic accident. And he became the youngest person ever to receive a Bionic arm. So what do you think Mohammed asked for after receiving his new Bionic arm? Well, he asked for a new shirt. He asked for a new shirt that he could button himself with the power of his brain. Amazing. Let me share a second example. So a baby dies every 40 seconds from prematurity. Ultrasound AI, a woman-led startup in the US, uses AI to accurately predict premature births and improve prenatal care. On a mission to Ghana last year, they helped dozens and dozens of mothers that were at risk. They helped these mothers giving their babies a better chance for life. Because of course, no baby should ever have to fight for its life on day one. These two examples, these startups challenge the status quo. And they need our support now more than ever. So my third wish would be that we must make AI systems safe, secure, and trustworthy. 2024 is the biggest election year in history. With the rise of sophisticated deep fakes, disinformation campaigns, it’s also the most contentious one. Not only does the misuse of AI threaten democracy, it also endangers young people’s mental health and compromises cybersecurity. As AI is being used to blur reality, we have convened the world’s foremost experts in AI watermarking and digital content verification to establish robust and reliable standards. Because standards, ladies and gentlemen, build trust. They are the cornerstone of responsible AI. And that’s why the world standards cooperation, which brings together the ITU, IEC, ISO, we announced yesterday a commitment, a commitment to work together to develop unified, a unified framework for AI standards that will help to reflect the diverse needs and also to take into account the capacities of standards developers everywhere. This will help to foster inclusivity and equitable access to AI technologies in support of the SDGs. As we look to 2030, we must act decisively. We have to act decisively to turn these wishes into reality. I think the choice that we face, it’s not a simple choice between risks and opportunities. AI technologies, like those before them, hold immense potential for both good and bad. It’s not about choosing between humans versus machines. Machines have been part of the fabric of our life for generations. The real challenge is to foster responsible AI without stifling innovation. It is a delicate balance to strike, but we need to put humanity at the center, at the front and center. Instead of asking what role humanity will play in AI’s future, we should be asking ourselves what role will AI play in humanity’s future? If we shift our perspective, I am confident that we can develop and implement AI technologies that serve the goals and the universal values that are enshrined in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We are the AI generation, so let’s meet the moment. Let’s write the next chapter of the great story of humanity and technology. Let’s remember that the future starts not with algorithms, but with us, with all of you, right here in our brain, in our brain that is the most complex, powerful, creative computer that the world has ever known. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. That was amazing.