Plenary session 3: Towards a human-centred ethical AI?

If we are to make the most of the possibilities offered by AI to the world, we must ensure that it serves humanity, with respect for human rights and human dignity, as well as our environment and ecosystems. Today, no global ethical framework or principles for AI developments and applications exist. UNESCO is a unique universal forum with over twenty years of experience in developing international instruments related to bioethics and the ethics of science and technology.

It has the responsibility to lead an interdisciplinary, pluralistic, universal, and enlightened debate – not a technical debate, but an ethical one – in order to enter this new era with our eyes wide open, without sacrificing our values, and to make it possible to establish a common global foundation of ethical principles.

What do we mean exactly by a human centred and ethical AI? What are the immediate and potential longterm ethical challenges raised by AI in the domains of UNESCO’s mandate? What are some of the challenges in establishing ethical frameworks and principles in this field? Does this definition change in different regions of the world? What is a possible way forward and who needs to be involved in the conversation?

Moderator:

• Mr John Shawe-Taylor, UNESCO Chair in AI, Professor of Computational Statistics and Machine
  Learning, University College London, UK

Introductory remarks:

• Mr Sang Wook Yi, Philosophy professor, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea, Member,
  World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology, UNESCO

Panellists:

• Mr Bernd Carsten Stahl, Professor of Critical Research in Technology, Director of the Center for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University, United Kingdom
• Ms Dorothy Gordon, Chair, Information For All Programme, UNESCO
• Mr Edson Prestes, Institute of Informatics, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
• Ms Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem, Professor in Philosophy of Science, University of Pretoria, Leader of Ethics of AI research group, Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR), South Africa
• Mr Osamu Sudo, Professor, University of Tokyo, Chair, Council for Social Principles of Human-Centric AI, Japan
• Mr Sang Wook Yi, Philosophy professor, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea, Member, World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology, UNESCO
• Mr Lan Xue, Dean of Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, China