UNESCO Launches Artificial Intelligence Global Policy Portal with Partners

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Audrey Azoulay
Director-General of UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), working in co-operation with seven major international organizations that work on different aspects of Artificial Intelligence (AI), has launched an artificial intelligence global policy portal to promote global cooperation.

Serving as a portal to the global artificial intelligence observatory, the portal, https://globalpolicy.ai/ was launched on September 14, 2021 to help policymakers and the wider public navigate the international AI governance landscape. The portal provides access to the necessary tools and information, such as projects, research and reports to promote trustworthy and responsible AI that is aligned with human rights at the global, national and local level.

The other seven organisations that joined forces to launch the new portal that is meant to be a one-stop shop for data, research findings and good practices in AI policy are the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations (UN), and the World Bank Group. The partner IGOs are exploring concrete projects to promote the development of trustworthy and sustainable AI.

The platform has two main objectives: to provide information about each organisation’s work on AI, thereby helping policy makers and the wider public navigate the international AI governance landscape and access relevant resources; and to strengthen co-operation between the different organisations, leveraging each other’s work and making progress together towards common goals.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            A medium-term objective of the platform is to provide resources that help foster the responsible development and use of trustworthy and ethical AI, that contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and that ensure AI systems are aligned with human rights and democratic values.

The portal provides the public policy and decision makers with data, research, use cases, and best practices and is a neutral entry point to related resources from sister organizations showcasing cooperation between them.

The portal was created to foster deeper international co-operation between intergovernmental organisations with complementary mandates on AI. The organisations in the group have developed and launched AI initiatives that take many different forms – all the way from publications, observatories, and educational material to regulation and international treaties.

It will inform policy makers and the public about initiatives developed by different institutions that contribute towards the common goal of trustworthy, responsible and ethical AI.

UNESCO’s work in the domain of AI cuts across standard setting, policy advice and capacity building and as part of this work, it has launched guidance for policy makers in AI and Education, developed training for youth on AI and Human Rights and will be training over 2,000 judicial operators on AI and the Rule of Law worldwide by beginning of 2022.

UNESCO’s 193 Member States are also poised to adopt a Recommendation on the ethics of AI in November during the forthcoming session of the Organization’s General Conference. The draft is the fruit of a comprehensive worldwide consultation about the concerns it raises.