The number of challenges involved in ensuring the ethical and responsible use of AI makes prioritisation essential.
Renaud Vedel, the incoming Co-Chair of the GPAI Steering Committee, reiterates the mission of the Global Partnership on AI launched in 2020, which will hold this year’s Summit in Paris. The coordinator of the French government’s national strategy for artificial intelligence also talks about the many challenges that remain.
Although the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) is still a recent international initiative, its Steering Committee Co-Chair Renaud Vedel stresses that it already has 19 members representing more than one-third of the world’s population. And this number is expected to increase further, since a number of other countries have already indicated their interest in joining this international initiative.
Its annual Summit meeting will be held this year in Paris (the first was hosted in Canada), and marks the culmination of many months of work by many of its experts. Delegates will converge on the French capital to publicise and share their work, but also to consider areas for new impetus. Official delegations from Member States will also have the opportunity to discuss issues directly with the experts present.
The Summit is also an opportunity for the GPAI governance bodies to take important organisational decisions and agree the programme of expert projects for 2022. “The number of challenges involved in ensuring the ethical and responsible use of AI makes prioritisation essential”, says Renaud Vedel.
The experts at GPAI still have to complete the 10 projects launched this year, and the majority of those are likely continue in 2022. AI has the potential to contribute to combating climate change and ensuring fair access to data, as well as impacting the world of work, and getting these technologies into small businesses… the GPAI is fully committed to addressing all these issues and more, with the aim of providing practical solutions.
“We must strive to develop a more inclusive agenda to prevent AI from accentuating an already wide digital divide within societies and internationally between technologically mature countries and those where these technologies are still in their infancy”, emphasises Renaud Vedel. GPAI members are also committed to further expanding the partnership’s scope of geographical and cultural involvement during 2022.
“Every country that signs up to the democratic values of the OECD has a duty to address these challenges, and has agreed that the GPAI should be one of the key forums for cooperation on this issue”, concludes Renaud Vedel.
