by Editor | Jul 8, 2019 | News
Secretary General Gurria spoke at the Western Balkans Berlin Process Summit – Leaders Session on Youth entrepreneurship
http://www.oecd.org/about/secretary-general/western-balkans-summit-leaders-session-on-youth-entrepreneurship-poland-july-2019.htm
He focused on these messages:
- Boosting youth entrepreneurship to unleash the region’s full economic potential
- It is time to act: fostering youth entrepreneurship
And three issues to work on:
- First, governments need to create a business ecosystem that levels the playing field for young entrepreneurs. Policy makers should identify the special needs of youth, and offer tailored support services and structures such as incubators.
- Second, accessing finance remains too difficult for young entrepreneurs.A staggering 70% of all new businesses view a lack of funding as the number one impediment for creating a business. You cannot expect young people to become entrepreneurs if you don’t equip them with the necessary resources.
- Third, young people in the Western Balkans have substantially lower skills than their EU peers.
Boston Global Forum honored Mr. Angel Gurria as A World Leader in AI World Society at the Boston Global Forum – G7 Summit Conference on April 25, 2018 at Harvard University Faculty Club.
by Editor | Jul 8, 2019 | News
Former Governor Michael Dukakis wrote in his letter calling for contributions to the AI World Society (AIWS) Summit, “The real world applications of AI will bring revolutionary changes and will have profound effects on the future of humanity. The changes will bring challenges to societal norms and economic models that we have relied on for decades. And we would be wise to prepare for all that will mean…” But, “our national governments have been slow to act. And international bodies such as the United Nations have yet to effectively address the problem.”
The AIWS Summit is filling in this void, serving as a place where the brightest minds on the planet can work together, to find the innovative solutions that will help us build a brighter future. This week, we are pleased to present a talk by Oxford Professor Philip Howard for the AIWS Summit.
Professor Howard is a statutory Professor of Internet Studies and Director of the Oxford Internet Institute. He investigates the impact of digital media on political life around the world, demonstrating how new information technologies are used in both civic engagement and social control in countries around the world. Howard’s research and commentary writing has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and many international media outlets. He holds courtesy appointments as a professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Communication and as a fellow at Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism.
Professor Howard’s talk for AIWS Summit is focused on the impact of misinformation on manipulation of public opinion. It is becoming more of a phenomenon around the world that government agencies and political parties are increasingly exploiting social media to spread junk news and disinformation to benefit their own propaganda.
He conjectures that this trend will continue. Furthermore, he thinks that AI will help make misinformation campaigns easier and more effective to automate. In his opinion, the biggest existential threat to democracy is the undermining the role of science in public life. A long-term negative trend is that the evidence itself will have not have a clear role and instead alternative facts may reign in how we set policy making.
Professor Howard calls for public policy oversight. Countries that want to do something about misinformation need to provide guidelines and set expectations for what political campaigns can do when they commission negative campaigns, what is expected for social media companies that make money out of revenue ad, and how political candidates spend their money.
The full video of Professor Howard’s talk can be seen here.
by Editor | Jul 8, 2019 | News
Digging deeper, today’s artificial intelligence has three key ingredients: data, recipes and optimizations. The data is the foundation and the basis for learning. Just like we as humans learn from books, movies, teachers, etc. — all of which are sources of data — a computer needs data from which to learn in order to become intelligent. And with the proliferation of sensors —sensors attached to refrigerators, sensors attached to pipelines, sensors attached to production lines and even sensors attached to cows — there is more data than ever before. The volume and quality of data have a critical impact on the success of an artificial intelligence system.
The recipe of an AI system provides guidance on how the computer should discover patterns in data to produce outputs. The recipe helps the computer to create rules for classifications, segmentation and predictions based on the data it is learning from. According to AI Ethics report, AI technology also not only require a large of datasets and algorithms but also obtain a systematic approach to avoid bias and achieve core ethical value for relieving human well-being and happiness, as well as solving important issues, such as SDGs.
by Editor | Jul 8, 2019 | News
The World Economic Forum today announced its list of 56 companies selected as Technology Pioneers, and this year’s class demonstrates the growing embrace of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning across a broad range of sectors.
Of those selected, at least 20 companies say they are using AI or machine learning in some fashion to tackle challenges in fields such as advertising technology, smart cities, clean tech, supply chain, manufacturing, cybersecurity, autonomous vehicles, and drones.
As members of the Pioneers programs, startups are invited to participate in various WEF events that give them access to international policy makers and larger corporations that represent potential partners or investors. For many, it also represents an important validation of their product or services. AI and Machine Learning technology trend in WEF program is also aligned with Artificial Intelligence World Society (AIWS) for the purpose of promoting ethical norms and practices in the development of AI to serve and strengthen democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
by Editor | Jul 21, 2019 | News
Professor Alex Sandy Pentland, co-founder of the Social Contract 2020, directs the MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamics labs and previously helped to create and direct the MIT Media Lab and the Media Lab Asia in India. He is one of the most-cited scientists in the world, and Forbes recently declared him to be one of the “7 most powerful data scientists in the world”, along with Google founders and the Chief Technical Officer of the United States. He co-led the World Economic Forum discussion in Davos that led to the EU privacy regulation GDPR, and was central in forging the transparency and accountability mechanisms in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. He has received numerous awards and prizes such as the McKinsey Award from Harvard Business Review, the 40th Anniversary of the Internet from DARPA, and the Brandeis Award for work in privacy.
Professor Alex Sandy Pentland will speak at AI World Conference and Expo on October 23, 2019 in Boston. The Boston Global Forum and Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation are Strategic Alliance Hosts of this event at AIWorld.com.
by Editor | May 14, 2024 | Executive Board
Quynh Nham holds the position of Vice Director and serves as a board member for a company specializing in industrial properties, ports, logistic services, warehousing, and infrastructure development in Vietnam. Since 2021, she has been actively involved with the Boston Global Forum, starting as an assistant to the CEO before taking on the role of Director of Boston Global Forum Community Development in 2023. Quynh Nham also participates as a leadership fellow of Shinzo Abe Initiative for Peace and Security, and as a coordinator of World Leader in AIWS Award Conference, World Leader in Peace and Security Award Conference, Celebration of Governor Michael Dukakis 90th Birthday and BGF Global Enlightenment Music Club. She was also a distinguished contributor to the book “From the Massachusetts Miracle to the Age of Global Enlightenment” published by Boston Global Forum in November 2023.
Quynh Nham earned her Bachelor of Commerce degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of New South Wales, Australia in 2018. Following her studies, she completed an internship in transaction advisory services at EY Vietnam. In 2019, she cofounded a startup in the beauty and personal care industry where she practiced marketing and branding before moving to the field of industrial property development in Vietnam.
by Editor | Jun 21, 2024 | Board of Thinkers
As Director of the Wilson Center’s Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition, Hon. Mark R. Kennedy (U.S. Congress 2001-07 MN) defines paths to strengthening America’s alliances, and the technology, trade, energy, infrastructure and industrial base foundations of its economic and global leadership.
As a Senior Fellow at CNA – Center for Naval Analyses and an appointed Civic Leader supporting the Secretary of the Air Force, Kennedy champions the grand strategy and military needed to deter aggression.
Mark applies experiences as a first-generation college graduate, President Emeritus of the University of Colorado, President of the University of North Dakota, presidentially appointed member of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, author of Shapeholders, Business Success in the Age of Activism (Columbia University Press), member of the Council on Foreign Relations, member of the Boston Global Forum’s Board of Thinkers, Chairman Emeritus of the Economic Club of Minnesota, corporate executive, University of Michigan MBA (with distinction) and St. John’s University (MN) graduate.
Kennedy has engaged wide cross-sections of society in over 45 countries, including refugee camps, war zones, 55+ military bases and three aircraft carriers at sea.
by Editor | Jun 12, 2024 | Board of Thinkers
Patrick H. Winston was Ford Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been with CSAIL and before that the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory since 1967. He joined the faculty in 1970, and he was the Director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory from 1972 to 1997.
Professor Winston was particularly involved in the study of how vision, language, and motor faculties account for intelligence. He also works on applications of Artificial Intelligence that are enabled by learning, precedent-based reasoning, and common-sense problem solving.
Professor Winston was chairman and cofounder of Ascent Technology, Inc., a company that produces sophisticated scheduling, resource allocation, and schedule recovery applications, enabled by AI technology, and in use throughout the world in major airports and the Department of Defense.
Professor Winston was a member of the Naval Research Advisory Committee (NRAC) (1985-1990, 1994-2000) for which he served as Chair from 1997 to 2000. During his service on NRAC, he chaired several studies, including a study of how the Navy can best exploit the next generation of computer resources and a study of technology for reduced manning. Professor Winston is also a past president of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence.
Professor Winston was working on a major new research and educational effort, the Human Intelligence Enterprise, which will bring together and focus research from several fields, including Computer Science, Systems Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, and Linguistics.
Professor Patrick Winston passed away on July 19, 2019.
