At the BGF Conference “Governing the Future: AI, Democracy, and Humanity,” hosted at Harvard University Loeb House on April 30, 2024, Dr. Alondra Nelson was honored with the World Leader in AIWS 2024 Award, and the “Knowledge Platform for AI” was introduced and discussed publicly for the first time. Below is a photo collection from the event:
BGF CEO Nguyen Anh Tuan
Governor Michael Dukakis
Ami Fields-Meyer, former Senior Policy Advisor at the White House
World Leader in AIWS Alondra Nelson
MIT Scholar Robert Mahari
MIT Professor Alex Pentland
MIT Professor Nazli Choucri
MIT Professor Lily Tsai
David Hall, TAMP’s CEO and AKT Health’s Managing Director
Harvard Professor David Silbersweig
Partner of EY, Harvard and MIT Scholar Jeff Saviano
Boston Global Forum is proud to announce the appointment of Jeffrey N. Saviano as the Director of AIWS Ethics. Jeffrey brings a wealth of experience to this role as a Partner at EY, a Scholar at the Harvard Center for Ethics, and a Fellow of MIT Connection Science. As a member of the board, Jeff will oversee the ethical considerations within the AIWS framework, ensuring that AI technologies are developed and implemented in a manner consistent with ethical principles and human values.
Jeff Saviano presented on AI ethics at the BGF Conference “Governing the Future: AI, Democracy, and Humanity,” at Harvard University Loeb House on April 30, 2024, contributing to the ongoing dialogue. His presentation, “Ethics for the Knowledge Platform for AI,” emphasized the importance of ethical guidelines and standards in the development and utilization of AI technologies. He highlighted how the Knowledge Platform will use these human ethical principles to create a database of humanity’s knowledge.
Over the past week of May 6-12, representatives of the Boston Global Forum met with leaders of prominent think tanks in Washington DC, including the Wilson Center and the Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security (GIWPS). Topics of these meetings vary between peace, security, AI governance, women’s role in the AI age, and the establishment of new democracy with AI.
Through initiatives such as the Shinzo Abe Initiative for Peace and Security and AI World Society, the BGF seeks to collaborate with civil society and think tanks to address global challenges, both technological and geopolitical, cooperating via roundtables and conferences. The proposed roundtables will serve as platforms for in-depth discussions and brainstorming of solutions, bringing together leaders from Japan, Europe, India, and the United States, the Four Pillars. These discussions will facilitate meaningful dialogues on key topics and foster international cooperation between the Pillars in addressing challenges to the rules-based order.
The outcome of these Roundtables will be a set of recommendations and solutions for the significant issues discussed, providing actionable insights to guide world leaders and society in addressing global challenges and advancing peace, security, and ethical AI governance.
Ambassador Melanne Verveer, executive director of GIWPS, and BGF Chief Editor Minh Nguyen
2024 World Leader in AIWS Award Alondra Nelson wrote about the ceremony to celebrate the spectacular tenure of Ami Fields-Meyer, her former Chief of Staff during her time at the Office of Science and Technology Policy and a speaker at the BGF Conference “Governing the Future: AI, Democracy, and Humanity” at Harvard University Loeb House, April 30, 2024.
Dr. Nelson wrote:
It was sheer joy to return to the White House this week to celebrate the spectacular tenure of Ami Fields-Meyer at the Office of the Vice President of the United States and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. As I said on Tuesday, one of my fondest (and recurring) memories of Ami is his being in his office late at night after most others had left. Whenever I thought I was the only one remaining on the 4th floor of the EEOB, there was Ami, outlasting me for a few minutes or hours. Ike Irby, PhD, Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Harris, spoke powerfully and eloquently about how the *impact* of this hard work and these late nights would be manifest in US and international AI governance. Ami came to science and technology policy after working on some of the thorniest domestic policy issues we face, including the COVID-19 pandemic, generational poverty, and homelessness in New York City and Los Angeles. Through this work, he came to appreciate that equitable science and technology policy are domestic policy, economic justice policy, health equity policy, and housing policy and more; they sit at the center of our greatest current and future challenges, and of some of the possible solutions to them. His long hours were a reflection of the sense of urgency he felt for the work at hand and a recognition of the small window of time we’d been granted by the American public to make a material improvement in their lives. I like to think this was why Ami was so frequently in the office late into the night (but I know it was also because he could be bribed with dinner from the Navy Mess 😂). When we faced difficult policy issues and decision points, Ami and I would trade gems of wisdom from our parents with our colleagues: “Rabbi Shawn would say…” “Delores would want us to pray on it” “My dad has this saying from New Orleans…” “Tom would write it this way…” Our families were always, always with us. So it was extra special that Ami’s dad, Tom Fields-Meyer, joined us in cheering him on. Bravo, Ami–thank you for your service! And, onward!
Please watch Ami Fields-Meyer’s presentation at the BGF Conference on YouTube.
Alondra Nelson and Ami Fields-Meyer at the BGF Conference
Ami Fields-Meyer, former Senior Policy Advisor at The White House and the Chief of Staff of Dr. Alondra Nelson during her time leading the Office of Science and Technology Policy, gave an insightful talk on AI and democratic governance at the BGF Conference “Governing the Future: AI, Democracy, and Humanity.” Titled “Resilient Democracy in the Age of AI,” he discussed several key ideas that shed light on tensions between AI and current conceptions of democratic governance. AI is not just a tool, but holds capacity to reshape society for good or for harm. He warned about the negatives externalities that unchecked AI can affect society, such as potential discrepancies for discrimination and the contradictions between profit motives and democractic values. Still, he stated that AI regulation and governance is still within the capacity of government to act upon and society to advocate for.
