UNESCO Member States adopt first global agreement on the ethics of artificial intelligence
Tags: machinelearning, ai, deeplearning
Published: 2021-11-27 15:00:31

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, presented on Thursday the first global standard on the ethics of artificial intelligence, adopted by UNESCO Member States at the General Conference.

This landmark text establishes common values and principles that will guide the construction of the legal infrastructure needed to ensure the healthy development of AI.

AI is ubiquitous, enabling many of our daily routines, from booking a flight, to driving driverless cars, to personalizing our morning news. AI also supports decision making by governments and the private sector. 

AI technologies are delivering remarkable results in highly specialized fields, such as cancer detection and building inclusive environments for people with disabilities. It can also help combat global problems such as climate change and world hunger and reduce poverty by optimizing economic aid.

But technology is also bringing unprecedented new challenges. We are witnessing a rise in gender and ethnic bias, significant threats to privacy, dignity and agency, the dangers of mass surveillance, and the increased use of unreliable AI technologies in law enforcement, to name a few. Until now, there were no universal standards that provided answers to these problems.

In 2018, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, launched an ambitious project: to give the world an ethical framework for the use of artificial intelligence. Three years later, thanks to the mobilization of hundreds of experts from around the world and intense international negotiations, UNESCO's 193 Member States have just officially adopted this ethical framework.

> "The world needs rules for artificial intelligence to benefit humanity. The Recommendation on the Ethics of AI is an important response. It establishes the first global normative framework, while giving States the responsibility to implement it at their level. UNESCO will support its 193 Member States in its implementation and will ask them to report regularly on their progress and practices." -Audrey Azoulay

## The content of the recommendation

The Recommendation aims to realize the benefits that AI brings to society and reduce the risks associated with it. It ensures that digital transformations promote human rights and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, addressing issues of transparency, accountability and privacy, with action-oriented policy chapters on data governance, education, culture, labor, healthcare and the economy.

### 1. Data protection

The Recommendation calls for action beyond what technology companies and governments are doing to guarantee individuals greater protection by ensuring transparency, the ability to act and control over their personal data. It states that all individuals should be able to access or even delete their personal data records. It also includes actions to improve data protection and the individual's knowledge and right to control their own data. It also increases the ability of regulators around the world to enforce it.

### 2. Prohibition of social bookmarking and mass surveillance

The Recommendation explicitly prohibits the use of AI systems for social rating and mass surveillance. Such technologies are highly invasive, violate human rights and fundamental freedoms and are widely used. The Recommendation stresses that, when developing regulatory frameworks, Member States should bear in mind that ultimate responsibility and accountability should always rest with human beings and that AI technologies should not be given legal personality for their own sake.

### 3. Assist in monitoring and evaluating

The Recommendation also lays the groundwork for tools that will assist in its implementation. The Ethical Impact Assessment is intended to help countries and companies developing and deploying AI systems to assess the impact of those systems on people, society and the environment. The readiness assessment methodology helps Member States assess their readiness in terms of legal and technical infrastructure. This tool will help to improve the institutional capacity of countries and to recommend appropriate measures to be taken to ensure the implementation of ethics 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 ongoing auditing and monitoring efforts.

### 4. Environmental protection

The Recommendation stresses that AI actors should favor data-, energy- and resource-efficient AI methods that help ensure that AI becomes a more prominent tool in combating climate change and addressing environmental issues. The Recommendation calls on governments to assess the direct and indirect environmental impact throughout the lifecycle of the AI system. This includes its carbon footprint, energy consumption and the environmental impact of extracting raw materials to support the manufacture of AI technologies. It also aims to reduce the environmental impact of AI systems and data infrastructures. It incentivizes governments to invest in green technology, and if there is a disproportionate negative impact of AI systems on the environment, the Recommendation instructs that they not be used.

> "Decisions that affect millions of people must be fair, transparent and accountable. These new technologies must help us address the major challenges of our world today, such as growing inequalities and the environmental crisis, not deepen them." - Gabriela Ramos

Emerging technologies such as AI have demonstrated their immense capacity to do good. However, their negative impacts, which are exacerbating an already divided and unequal world, must be controlled. AI developments must respect the rule of law, prevent harm and ensure that, when harm does occur, accountability and redress mechanisms are available to those affected.