AIWS Weekly - Week of June 13, 2022

PUBLISHING "REMAKING THE WORLD -- TOWARD AN AGE OF GLOBAL ENLIGHTENMENT" IN VIETNAMESE

Tri Thuc Publishing House in Vietnam have just published a Vietnamese translation of Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment.

Former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak will travel to Vietnam in August, 2022 and will attend the High-Level Dialog discussing this book in Ha Noi. Governor Michael Dukakis, Chairman of Boston Global Forum and professors from Harvard and MIT will join this High-Level Dialog.

The book was published in English in July 2021, then introduced and discussed at the Policy Lab, co-organized by Club de Madrid and Boston Global Forum September 7-9, 2021, then at a special session at the Riga Conference 2021. Recently on April 29, 2022, at Loeb House, Harvard University, pioneering concepts of this book were applied to develop the Rebuilding Ukraine Program as a present to President Zelensky and all Ukrainian people, recipients of the 2022 World Leader for Peace and Security Award.

The Vietnamese edition was translated by Mr. Le Anh Duc, Editor of Vietnam Report, and Mr. Pham Trong Nghia, Vietnamese National Assembly Member, and revised and introduced by Professor Nguyen Chu Hoi, Vietnam National Assembly Member, and Professor Hoang Kiem, Founder and the first Dean of the Computer Science School of Vietnam National University at Ho Chi Minh City.

INDIA PROMOTES CYBER-GUIDELINES FOR PEACE IN THE DIGITAL DOMAIN

At the initiative of the United States, the United Nations Security Council held a briefing on May 23 on the use of digital technologies in maintaining international peace and security. Among the compelling statements made was that of the Permanent Representative of India, Ambassador T.S Tirumurti, who proposed five issues for the Council's consideration; addressing abuse of digital technologies by terrorist groups; leveraging of expertise by digitally advanced States to further contemporary forms of cross border terrorism; the need for a collaborative rules based approach to resolve problems and threats that arise from the digital domain; the importance of these technologies in "protecting the protector" in UN peacekeeping missions and effective exchange of information between countries on misuse of digital technologies.

Read the full text here:
https://www.pminewyork.gov.in/IndiaatUNSC?id=NDYxNA,

At the BGF-Club de Madrid Policy Lab on “Fundamental Rights in AI & Digital Societies: Towards an International Accord”, speakers agreed that the global community cannot wait for governments or international organizations to act. The Global Alliance for Digital Governance will take action to connect think tanks, influencers, experts, and citizens to contribute to building International Laws, International Accord on AI and Digital, while simultaneously working with governments and international organizations towards this goal.

Boston Global Forum (BGF), Club de Madrid and AI World Society (AIWS) propose an initiative: establishing a Global Alliance for Digital Governance (GADG). This is a part of Social Contract for the AI Age, Framework for AI International Accord, BGF Conference of July 1^st, 2020, and the book Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment.

THIS WEEK IN THE HISTORY OF AI AT AIWS.NET - EDWARD FEIGENBAUM, BRUCE G. BUCHANAN, JOSHUA LEDERBERG, AND CARL DJERASSI WORK ON DENDRAL

This week in The History of AI at AIWS.net - Edward Feigenbaum, Bruce G. Buchanan, Joshua Lederberg, and Carl Djerassi began work on Dendral in 1965. This was an AI project that later also became the first expert system.

Edward Feigenbaum is an American computer scientist focused on Artificial Intelligence. He studied at Carnegie Mellon University for both his B.S. and Ph.D., with Herbert Simon, an AI pioneer, as his doctoral advisor. He would go on to work at UC Berkeley and Stanford, the latter where he became Professor Emeritus of Computer Science (since 2000). Feigenbaum received the ACM Turing Award in 1994 with Raj Reddy for pioneering in AI and demonstrating its commercial potential.

Dendral was deveveloped at Stanford beginning in 1965, after the question “Can machines think?” became popularized. Led by Edward Feigenbaum, Bruce G. Buchanan, Joshua Lederberg, and Carl Djerassi, and assisted by associates and students, the project sought to study hypothesis formation and discovery in science. “Dendral” is a portmanteau of “Dendritic Algorithm”. Many expert systems that came after, such as XCON, were derived from Dendral.

The beginning of this project is considered an event in the history of AI due to the project itself contributing much to the development of AI. Dendral itself was both a culmination of past AI interests and the sparking of new ones. Thus, the HAI initiative sees the project as a marker in the history of AI.

THE EU AI ACT WILL HAVE GLOBAL IMPACT, BUT A LIMITED BRUSSELS EFFECT

The European Union’s (EU) AI Act (AIA) aspires to establish the first comprehensive regulatory scheme for artificial intelligence, but its impact will not stop at the EU’s borders. In fact, some EU policymakers believe it is a critical goal of the AIA to set a worldwide standard, so much so that some refer to a race to regulate AI. This framing implies that not only is there value in regulating AI systems, but that being among the first major governments to do so will have broad global impact to the benefit of the EU—often referred to as the “Brussels Effect.” Yet, while some components of the AIA will have important effects on global markets, Europe alone will not be setting a comprehensive new international standard for AI.

The extraterritorial impact of the AIA will vary widely between sectors and applications, but individually examining the key provisions of the AIA offers insight into the extent of a Brussels effect that can be expected.

This is a report from the Brookings Institute, written by Alex Engler.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-eu-ai-act-will-have-global-impact-but-a-limited-brussels-effect/

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY TELLS UK STUDENTS HE WILL NEED THE YOUNGER GENERATION TO REBUILD UKRAINE

Volodymyr Zelensky has addressed student Ukrainian societies across the UK pledging that he would not give up or “concede”. territory to Russia.

Ukraine’s president spoke to student societies at Birmingham University, Coventry, London School of Economics, UCL, City of London, Oxford, Cambridge, and Glasgow and Manchester over video-link and urged them to help rebuild his country once victory was assured.

Moderator Matt Frei, from Channel 4 News, asked President Zelensky whether there was a stage of the invasion where he would need to cede territory to the Russians given the loss of life in the eastern Donbas region.

He added: “Throughout my presidentship, I clearly understand and understood that every war has to finish at the table of negotiations and I understand that diplomacy can save lives, I understand this. But unfortunately the president of Russian Federation doesn’t understand this, and that’s it.

On April 29, the Boston Global Forum (BGF), together with the Latvian Transatlantic Organization, organized the “Laurel for Peace and Security in Ukraine” Conference honoring President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and all Ukrainian people as 2022 BGF World Leader for Peace and Security. At the event, which took place at Loeb House, Harvard University, Governor Michael Dukakis presented the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and all Ukrainian People as World Leaders for Peace and Security 2022. Governor Dukakis stated that President Zelenskyy and all Ukrainian people have received the 2022 award for “their courage and sacrifice for freedom and independence.” During the conference, Boston Global Forum announced the Rebuilding Ukraine Program. The Rebuilding Ukraine Program has been conceived as an award for President Zelenskyy and all Ukrainian people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jylna8P7Tw

A NEW FOUNDATION FOR THE GLOBAL DIGITAL ECONOMY
You are cordially invited to the Symposium “A New Foundation for the Global Digital Economy” to be held on 27 June 2022 at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Symposium convenes leaders from government, private sector, civil society, and academia to discuss how societies can build new foundations for the global digital economy.

Countries around the world are grappling with multiple, concurrent crises: a global pandemic that has battered health systems and economies; lower economic growth trajectories; supply chain dislocations; increasing technological and political complexity; and a trend of rising nationalism, diminished global institutions, and reduced international cooperation. At the same time, many economies are undergoing profound transformation fueled by innovative digital technologies and data systems, ecosystems, and business models.

The challenges and opportunities in the digital economy are international in nature. We believe the moment calls for stronger dialogue among policymakers, technologists, and economists from the public and private sector, civil society, and academia to accelerate investments in global digital public infrastructure, promote the secure exchange of information across networks, and articulate a new economic paradigm. The event features moderated discussions covering four themes of reinvention:

Growth Strategies in the Digital Economy. Develop a vision for the role of government and other stakeholders in the digital economy and actions that are needed to increase societal prosperity.
Investing in Foundational Digital Public Infrastructure. Discuss the underlying technologies that can underpin transformation journeys – such as innovative taxation and trade systems, digital currencies, and digital identity – to improve how services are delivered to their citizens and enable the creation of new markets, technology platforms, and ecosystems in which private-sector firms and other stakeholders can collaborate for additional societal value.
Disruptive Technologies to Accelerate Growth. Debate the role that advanced technologies – such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, quantum computing, Internet of Things, and Web 3.0 / Metaverse – should play in digital transformation. Analyze opportunities and risks, and how these innovations can impact critical infrastructure, transform industries, and redefine the way in which governments interact with their citizens.
Governance of Multistakeholder Systems. Propose new frameworks to oversee the development and operation of digital systems that are used across borders and stakeholder groups, to guide technology design and implementation, and facilitate collaboration that is transparent, equitable, and responsible.

This Symposium will be held in-person June 27^th at the MIT Media Lab. Attendees may arrive June 26^th for pre-event networking and informal introductory comments. A detailed agenda will be sent to confirmed attendees. In addition, confirmed participants are invited to attend a Web 3.0 event taking place on June 30^th, also at MIT.

This event is hosted by the Prosperity Collaborative, a multistakeholder collaboration including the World Bank, MIT, Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation, and EY. We came together in recognition of the power of diverse stakeholder groups to improve public finance and societies in general through new digital technologies. We believe these technologies should be open, transparent, and inclusive, and if responsibly developed and implemented at scale can lead to increased prosperity and wellbeing for societies and all their citizens.

The topics discussed also reinforce the work of the Boston Global Forum Artificial Intelligence World Society Network (AIWS) Government for Ukraine and City for Ukraine, as parts of the Rebuilding Ukraine Program, including pilot projects.

We look forward to seeing you at the Symposium.

To promote free discussion, the Chatham House rule will be observed.

If you would like to join the event, please send an email to Office@BostonGlobalForum.org

THE US CAN IMPROVE ITS AI GOVERNANCE STRATEGY BY ADDRESSING ONLINE BIASES

The United States has been working to codify the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Initiative that focuses on six strategic pillars: improving AI innovation, advancing trustworthy AI, creating new education and training opportunities through AI, improving existing infrastructure through new technologies, facilitating federal and private sector utilization of AI to improve existing systems, and promoting an international environment that supports further advances in AI. In April 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the National Institute on Standards (NIST) announced members of the inaugural National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC), which will be tasked with advising the Biden administration on how to proceed with national AI governance efforts. At their first meeting on May 4, 2022, the NAIAC discussed the use of AI pertaining to U.S. competitiveness, issues related to workforce, and whether there is adequate national oversight of AI systems. Taken together, the objectives of the national AI initiative and the creation of the NAIAC will ensure strategic and timely approaches to the design and deployment of autonomous systems, as well as further establish national norms.

Of equal importance is that the technology needs to be improved for domestic use cases as part of this national effort, especially in areas with the potential to create either differential treatment or disparate impact for federally protected and other vulnerable populations. If the U.S. excludes such considerations from national governance discussions, historic and systemic inequalities will be perpetuated, limiting the integration of the needs and lived experiences of certain groups into emerging AI innovations. Poor or inadequate decisions around financial services and creditworthiness, hiring, criminal justice, health care, education, and other scenarios that predict social and economic mobilities stifle inclusion and undercut democratic values such as equity and fairness. These and other potential harms must be paired with pragmatic solutions, starting with a comprehensive and universal definition of bias, or the specific harm being addressed. Further, the process must include solutions for legible and enforceable frameworks that bring equity into the design, execution, and auditing of computational models to thwart historical and present-day discrimination and other predatory outcomes.

The Boston Global Forum (BGF), in collaboration with the United Nations Centennial Initiative, released a major work entitled Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment. More than twenty distinguished leaders, scholars, analysts, and thinkers put forth unprecedented approaches to the challenges before us. These include President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Governor Michael Dukakis, Father of Internet Vint Cerf, Former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Harvard University Professors Joseph Nye and Thomas Patterson, MIT Professors Nazli Choucri and Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland, and Vice President of European Parliament Eva Kaili. The BGF introduced core concepts shaping pathbreaking international initiatives, notably, the Social Contract for the AI Age, an AI International Accord, the Global Alliance for Digital Governance, the AI World Society (AIWS) Ecosystem, and AIWS City.