United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday proposed a global pact to manage digital technologies, including the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), which the organization says could pose threats that are difficult to contain.
Guterres, who proposed a Global Digital Compact in 2021 that already advocated advancing AI regulation, presented his ideas on how to do it in a 30-page document this Monday.
The aim of the United Nations is for governments, the private sector and civil society to approve this major agreement in September 2024, at the Summit of the Future convened by the UN.
Although the Global Digital Compact proposed by Guterres is very broad, one of the most prominent axes is that of artificial intelligence, especially after the rapid progress registered in recent months.
“We are beginning to realize the magnitude of its disruptive potential, both positive and negative, but we have not yet met to consider the issues and work together on identifying risks and flexible ways to mitigate them,” explains the former Portuguese Prime Minister.
Guterres stressed that a “digital threshold has recently been crossed, with the widespread use of generative AI in the form of ChatGPT [um sistema que simula conversas e produz conteúdos] and many other applications”, a technology that will have a major impact, but of which it is not clear whether it will be positive, he says.
“The prospect of further technological advancements has often caused more fear than hope. Even those who have developed AI and benefited the most from it have expressed deep concern and called – even begged – for managerial action,” he noted.
Guterres believes it is necessary to ensure that the design and use of AI is transparent, safe and under the control of people who can be held accountable. facilitates the “agile” management of these new technologies.
In general, Guterres seeks collaboration between government and industry itself.
For example, among the actions it proposes are the urgent launch of research work with companies to ensure that AI systems are safe and aligned with human values or the establishment of a high-level advisory group of experts who meet regularly to address these issues .
In addition, it is asking governments – together with industry – to develop guidelines that guide the development of AI or to make commitments to strengthen transparency and involve human rights and ethics teams in this work.
Finally, the United Nations leader calls for consideration of “a ban on the use of technological applications whose potential or impact cannot be justified under international human rights law”, although he does not go into detail.
In recent years, the UN Secretary-General has warned, among other things, of the risk of so-called autonomous weapons, military systems guided by artificial intelligence that can make their own decisions when launching an attack.
Source: DN
