The secretary general of the UN, António Guterresproposed a global pact to manage digital technologies, including the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (IA), which according to the organization warns it can bring threats that are difficult to control.
Guterres, that in 2021 put on the table the idea of a Global Digital Compact who already advocated promoting AI regulationdetailed this Monday in a document about 30 pages for your ideas on how to do it.
The intention of the United Nations is that governments, the private sector and civil society can adopt That big deal in September 2024, during the so-called Summit of the Future called by the organization.
Although the Global Digital Pact proposed by Guterres is very broadone of its most outstanding axes is that of the artificial intelligence, especially after the rapid advances that have been seen in recent months.
“We are beginning to realize the scale of its disruptive potential, both positive and negative but we still have to come together to consider the problems and collaborate in the identification of risks and agile ways to mitigate them”, explains the Portuguese diplomat.
In a speech on Monday, Guterres highlighted which has recently been exceeded a “digital threshold, with the use generalized generative AI in the form of ChatGPT and many other applications. a technology that will have a great impact, but it is not clear that it will be good.
The prospect of further technological progress now it often raises more fear than hope. Even those who have developed AI and that they would benefit most from it have expressed a deep concern and request, even begged, actions for its governance”, he stressed.
An AI controlled by humans to be held accountable
Guterres considers it necessary to ensure that the design and use of AI be transparent, secure and under a human control those who can be called to account, so bet for combining international guides and standards, national regulatory frameworks and technical standards in a framework to facilitate “agile” management of these new technologies.
The recipes that he proposes, in general, seek cooperation between authorities and industry and avoid laws and regulations.
Thus, among the actions that appear the urgent start-up of a research work together with the companies to ensure that the AI systems are safe and that they line up with human values or the establishment of a high-level advisory group with experts who meet regularly to address these issues.
In addition, it asks governments to agree with the industry guidelines to guide the development artificial intelligence or reach compromises to reinforce transparency and include equipment of human rights and ethics in this work.
Finally, Guterres calls for considering “prohibitions the use of technology applications whose potential or impact cannot be justified under international law of human rights”, although it does not specify which ones.
Already for years, the secretary general has been warning, for example, of the risk posed by the so-called autonomous weaponsmilitary systems guided by artificial intelligence that can make their own decisions when launching an attack.