Anita Gurumurthy represented IT for Change at a session titled, ‘All Hands on Deck: Shaping an Inclusive Future of AI’ on 6 February 2024. The discussion was held as part of UNESCO’s ‘Global Forum on the Ethics of AI 2024’ in Kranj, Slovenia.
Artificial intelligence (AI) processes and systems are too important and complex to be decided upon by a few stakeholders. Multistakeholder community engagement by academia, civil society, and the private sector can catalyze good AI governance and ensure that AI benefits all. This session spotlighted the contributions and significance of civil societies in the multistakeholder governance of AI, with a special focus on the UNESCO repository of civil society organizations dedicated to AI. Live experiences were shared from the implementation of the Recommendation at the country level, where civil societies actively contribute to the conduct of Readiness Assessment, providing evidence basis and tailored recommendations for policy actions. This session also delved into the critical role of multistakeholder engagement in AI policy that can lead to more inclusive and informed decisions, and how it can help anticipate and account for AI’s negative downstream impact.
While providing her input, Anita focused on AI and global economic injustice, the need to decolonize frontier technology, Big Tech influence, and much more.
Read highlights from Anita’s inputs here.