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The European Court of Justice this week sided with the Austrian privacy advocate Max Schrems and found that “Privacy Shield,” the framework for data transfers from Europe to the United States, does not protect the personal information of Europeans. The decision will have far-reaching implications for trans-Atlantic trade, tech, data protection, and democratic governance. To continue transfers of personal data from Europe to the US — key to the continued growth of the US tech industry — the US will need to update domestic privacy laws and establish a data protection agency. Several bills now pending in Congress would do this, though the prospects for passage in an election year remain unclear.

This is the second successful challenge that Schrems has brought to the Court of Justice. In 2015, the Court struck down “Safe Harbor” after Schrems argued that the first EU-US framework lacked sufficient safeguards for personal data. US and EU negotiators then put together Privacy Shield, but many doubted the Court of Justice would endorse the revised data transfer policy, particularly after Europe enacted the General Data Protection Regulation, a comprehensive new privacy law to protect the personal information of Europeans.

The “Schrems I” decision arose in 2015 against the backdrop of the 2013 Snowden disclosures and concern that US intelligence agencies had too easy access to the personal data gathered by US tech firms. These concerns remain in the European Court’s opinion in “Schrems II.” Current US surveillance law contains few safeguards for non-US persons and the US remains one of the few democratic countries in the world without a data protection agency.  But the second Schrems decision appears in 2020 when there is also growing concern about the fairness of Artificial Intelligence techniques, the unregulated use of face surveillance, and the recognition that mass surveillance curbs democratic freedoms and solidifies authoritarian governments. Europe itself has made strengthening democratic institutions and adherence to the rule of law top priorities over the next several years. So, the impact of the Schrems II decision will likely reach beyond EU-US relations. Other governments also collect and process the personal data of Europeans — the decision of the European court will have global consequences.

The Center for AI and Digital Policy, founded in 2020, advises governments on technology policy.

Marc Rotenberg, Director

Center for AI and Digital Policy at Michael Dukakis Institute

British MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith criticized China and saw China as a big threat and peril to the peace and security of the world in his speech at the Democratic Alliance on Digital Governance Conference on July 1, 2020. Governor Michael Dukakis, co-founder and chair of the Boston Global Forum (BGF), moderated this conference with other speakers and panelists that included

Political Leaders: Liam Byrne, UK Member of Parliament, the Chair of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank & IMF, Ichiro Fujisaki, former Japanese Ambassador to US, Senator Kimberley Kitching, Parliament of Australia, Co-chair of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), Miriam Lexmann, Member of European Parliament, Co-chair of IPAC, Jamil Mahuad, former President of Ecuador, Beatriz Merino, former Prime Minister of Peru, Yasuhide Nakayama, Member of the House of Representatives of Japan, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Andreas Norlén, Speaker of the Swedish Parliament, Nam Pham, Assistant Secretary, Massachusetts, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former President of Latvia.

Scholars and Thinkers: Professor Nazli Choucri (MIT), Prof. Koichi Hamada (Yale), Prof. Joseph Nye (Harvard Kennedy School), Prof. Thomas Patterson (Harvard Kennedy School), Prof. Alex Pentland (MIT), Marc Rotenberg (Director of the Center on AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP), Michael Dukakis Institute, former President of EPIC), Prof. David Silbersweig (Harvard), Nguyen Anh Tuan (CEO of the Boston Global Forum (BGF)), Prof. Dick Vietor (Harvard Business School)

On July 1, 2020, at Democratic Alliance on Digital Governance conference, organized by the Boston Global Forum, Professor Richard Vietor, Harvard Business School presented “Global Economic Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic” at the section “New Supply Chain, New Economy, New Democracy”.

Some thoughts on Global Supply-chains

• Supply chain disruption not new – Japanese tsunami (2011), global financial crisis (2008-09);
• Either demand or supply shocks;
• Pandemic presents countries with both demand and supply shocks;
• Hits major global economic centers almost simultaneously;
• Tradeoff is one of static efficiency; just-in-time production, hyper-specialization, minimizing inventories…
• S. – China trade war has significantly exacerbated re-shoring or diversification
• Part of recent de-globalization

The presentation can be found here.

During the section “New Alliance, New Order, New Democracy”, she presented on how China impacted in Peru.

Beatriz Merino is a panelist of this section at Democratic Alliance on Digital Governance conference on July 1, 2020, organized by the Boston Global Forum (BGF). She is the representative of the BGF in Peru.

Artificial intelligence is beginning to be usefully deployed in almost every industry from customer call centers and finance to drug research. Yet the field is also plagued by relentless hype, opaque jargon and esoteric technology making it difficult for outsiders identify the most interesting companies.

To cut through the spin, Forbes partnered with venture firms Sequoia Capital and Meritech Capital to create our second annual AI 50, a list of private, U.S.-based companies that are using artificial intelligence in meaningful business-oriented ways. To be included, companies had to be privately-held and focused on techniques like machine learning (where systems learn from data to improve on tasks), natural language processing (which enables programs to “understand” written or spoken language), or computer vision (which relates to how machines “see”).

The list was compiled through a submission process open to any AI company in the U.S. The application asked companies to provide details on their technology, business model, customers and financials like funding, valuation and revenue history (companies had the option to submit information confidentially, to encourage greater transparency). In total, Forbes received about 400 entries. From there, our VC partners applied an algorithm to identify the 100 with the highest quantitative scores and then a panel of eight expert AI judges identified the 50 most compelling companies.

The original article can be found here.

To support AI application in the world society, Artificial Intelligence World Society Innovation Network (AIWS.net) created AIWS Young Leaders program including some MIT Researchers, as well as Young Leaders and Experts from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, and Vietnam.

Former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, and 2 term president of World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid, attended and spoke at the Democratic Alliance on Digital Governance Conference – Protecting and Strengthening Democracy in the Aftermath of COVID-19 July 1, 2020.

The Boston Global Forum honored President Vaira Vike-Freiberga with the World Leader for Peace and Security Award 2019. She also is a member of the Boston Global Forum’s Board of Thinkers.

The video of her talk can be found here.

Australian Senator Kimberley Kitching, co-chair of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), had a very impressive speech at Democratic Alliance on Digital Governance Conference – Protecting and Strengthening Democracy in the aftermath of COVID-19 July 1, 2020, organized by the Boston Global Forum.

She criticized Chinese leaders for using sanctions and other economic attacks as weapons to attack countries that criticize China in the pandemic, such as making economy of Australia difficult after the Australian government asked to investigate COVID-19. She also shared unfair responses of Chinese leaders when Australian leaders asked for dialog.

China is a real peril and danger to peace and security around the world.

The video can be found here.

Political messaging can have a huge impact on public responses to crises. In the US, academics warn that divisions between Republican and Democratic lawmakers are wrecking efforts to contain the virus. Now, a new AI tool has shown just how fractured their rhetoric has been.

Researchers from Ohio State University trained the algorithm to guess which political party members of Congress belonged to by analyzing their tweets about the pandemic. It correctly identified their party 76% of the time, according to their study.

The AI scanned all 30,887 tweets that current members of Congress wrote about COVID-19, from the first one on January 17 to March 31. Notably, the polarization wasn’t evident at the start of the outbreak.

In the week following the first mention of COVID-19, the algorithm struggled to determine whether a Republican or a Democrat had written the tweets. But its accuracy rapidly improved as the parties diverged in their responses to the pandemic.

“We found that once the parties started to figure out the political implications of the issue, polarization was evident in the tweets pretty quickly,” said study co-author Jon Green.

The AI found that Democrats discussed the crisis more frequently than GOP politicians. In total, they sent 19,803 tweets about COVID-19, while Republicans only sent out 11,084. This gap widened as the pandemic engulfed the US.

The two parties also used vastly different language to discuss the pandemic. Democrats placed greater emphasis on threats to public health and workers, whereas Republicans were more focused on China and businesses — and often framed the pandemic as a war.

The original article can be found here.

According to Artificial Intelligence World Society Innovation Network (AIWS.net), AI can be an important tool to serve and strengthen democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. In this effort, AIWS.net invites participation and collaboration with think tanks, universities, non-profits, companies, and other entities that share its commitment to the constructive and development of AI, especially in Covid-19 pandemic.

Press Release, Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation

Boston, July 1, 2020

Technology policy expert Marc Rotenberg will join the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation to launch a new Center on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy.

“We are thrilled that Marc Rotenberg is joining us,” said Governor Michael Dukakis. “We have worked with Marc over the last several years. We are all very impressed by his breadth of knowledge and his passionate commitment to fundamental rights and democratic governance.”

In 2018, Governor Dukakis called for a Global Accord on the Use of Artificial Intelligence and co-founded the AI World Society. Governor Dukakis also coauthored, “The concepts of AI-Government” and “Ethics Code of Conduct for Cyber Peace and Security.” Governor Dukakis works closely with many international organizations.

The Center on AI and Digital Policy, directed by Marc Rotenberg, will promote the new Democratic Alliance on Digital Governance and assess country practices for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy. Marc recently led global campaigns to establish a human rights framework for AI and to seek a moratorium on face surveillance.

“Marc’s global leadership on AI policy is widely admired,” said Dukakis Institute co-founder and Director Nguyen Anh Tuan. “We share a common commitment to safeguard democracy as new technologies emerge.”

Tuan is recognized globally for his pivotal role as a Vietnam Government reformer. He successfully fostered freedom-of-expression, vigorous open debate and private enterprise in Vietnam. Tuan launched the first Internet Service Provider in Vietnam and founded Vietnam’s preeminent online newspaper.

“It is an honor to work with Governor Dukakis, Tuan, and the fellows and scholars at the Institute,” said Marc Rotenberg. “We have a lot of work ahead. We must ensure that new technologies — and AI in particular — promote a better world.”

The formal announcement of the Center on AI and Digital Policy will be made at the Institute’s event on July 1^st, 2020 – “Democratic Alliance on Digital Governance – Protecting and Strengthening Democracy in the Aftermath of COVID-19.” The event will feature political leaders, scholars, and thinkers from around the world.

About the Michael Dukakis Institute

The Michael Dukakis Institute was born in 2015 with the mission of generating ideas, creating solutions, and deploying initiatives to solve global issues, especially focused on Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence. Led by Chairman Michael Dukakis and Director Nguyen Anh Tuan, the Institute has emerged as a powerful voice in global policy, bringing together world leaders, scientists, thinkers, and innovators. A top priority now for the Institute is the development of a Social Contract that ensures that AI and other technological innovations advance the goals of democratic governance.

Co-founders and Mentors of AIWS.net – Governor Michael Dukakis, Professor Thomaas Patterson (Harvard), Professor Nazli Choucri (MIT), Professor Alex Sandy Pentland (MIT), Professor David Silberweig (Harvard), and Nguyen Anh Tuan – spoke and dialogued at the United Nations Charter Day Roundtable, organized by the United Nations Academic Impact to celebrate the 75-year anniversary of UN Charter Day. The roundtable was moderated by Ramu Damodaran, Chief of UN Academic Impact and Editor in Chief of UN Chronicle Magazine. Panelists presented the Social Contract 2020, A New Social Contract in the Age of AI and Intellectual Society.

This is a good foundation for a better world with peace, security, intelligence, and effectiveness in 2045 when the United Nations turns 100.

There were experts and journalists that attend and dialog, such as Ms. Ta Bich Loan, Chief of Vietnam National Television 3 (VTV3), Allan Cytryn, former CTO of Goldman Sachs, Barry Nolan 6 times Emmy Awards, Mariko Gakiya, Llewellyn King (White House Chronicle), Pham Trong Nghia, Vietnam National Assembly, Miyuki Inoue (Asahi), Anh Nguyen (VietNamNet), and others.

Ramu Damodaran wrote on his Twitter: “a fascinating event”.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a great disaster for humanity.

Today this disaster poses urgent problems to the world that need to be addressed to protect and strengthen Democracy.

This disaster stems partly from the fact that China’s leaders and political systems are secretive, have no transparency of information, do not cooperate with the United States and other democratic countries, and pressured the World Health Organization to delay recognition of the epidemic and to develop appropriate responses.

Mr. Vu Ngoc Hoang, a former leader of the Communist Party of Vietnam wrote: “China’s leaders often are scheming, treacherous, and devious and are a danger to and threatening the world peace and security.  They are not trust-worthy, so there should not be any illusion that they will soon change their nature for the better.  It will take forever; don’t send the chicken to the fox and hope for the best!”

China has also deployed new technologies for social control that are intended to stifle dissent, monitor private life, and enforce state authority. Of particular concern is the growing use of face surveillance which allows the Chinese government to track individuals in their daily lives and to observe and assess social and political networks.

This conference will discuss strategies and solutions to cope with these growing risks both in politics and economics and to find models of alliances or affinity to promote strengthen democracy around the world.

Panel 1: New Alliance, New Order, New Democracy

This panel discusses the risks of China’s undermining world democracy, of which Hong Kong is an example of the consequence. July 1 is also the anniversary of Hong Kong being handed over to China by the United Kingdom.

While governments of democratic states are fragmented, lacking a coherent strategy, united plan, or close cooperation to protect and strengthen democracy, parliamentarians have established Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). What role can IPAC play to rally democratic resources around the world? In the digital, Internet, and AI era, digital democracy has an important role in protecting and strengthening democracy.

After a year of research and development, the Boston Global Forum officially announced The Social Contract 2020, A New Social Contract in the Age of AI, on May 5, 2020. On May 12, 2020, the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid and the Boston Global Forum held a roundtable to discuss the Social Contract 2020 and risks to human rights stemming from governments’ response to COVID-19. On June 26, 2020, to celebrate 75 Years of United Nations Charter Day, the UN and BGF co-organize UN Charter Day Roundtable: A New Social Contract in the Age of AI. Participants in both events stated that the Social Contract is a good foundation to strengthen democracy and to preserve peace and security for humanity in the Age of AI. The Social Contract calls for the establishment of the Democratic Alliance on Digital Governance.

How should this Democratic Alliance be set up? What is the connection between IPAC, BGF, World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid, and the newly established Global Partnership on AI? How do governments, businesses, and foundations support it? How should an initiative to build government and business monitoring and auditing system for digital democracy be developed?

What other international organizations should become partners in this new initiative?

How does one monitor the system of governments and businesses on digital democracy? How does one promote, link and unite all democratic power in the world?

The outcome of this panel will a report that outline ideas, solutions, and initiatives for governments, the UN, and international organizations.

Panel 2: New Supply Chain, New Economy, New Democracy

Insidious Chinese leaders and their political systems use a market of more than 1.4 billion people to pressure businesses and make the world economy dependent on China’s economy. The “Belt and Road Initiative” is creating economic dependencies that may weaken the ability of democratic states to maintain independence. Technologies for social control within China are now being deployed in countries that fall within the BRI regions. Most of all, there have been allegations that American finance and investment sectors are being manipulated by China … Now is the time to review economic relations with China. Is it possible that economic dependence with China lessens democratic values? What should be solutions for the world economy to not be dependent on China? Has Australia learned lessons from Chinese pressure, making it difficult for the Australian economy when the Australian government defends its democratic values and requests investigation of the Covid-19 pandemic?

The world needs a new and China-independent global economic strategy in which the undemocratic totalitarian dictatorship in China cannot compete and undermine democratic values ​​through economic relations. What is that strategy? How will the new model be shaped? How does this new strategy leverage the fruits of AI and digital innovation? What should the combination of economic growth and the value of democracy and civilization of mankind look like? Is economic growth necessary at all costs, irrespective of democratic and other fundamental values?

The outcome of this panel is a report that outline ideas, solutions, and initiatives for governments, the UN, and international organizations.

From the opinions presented at this conference, BGF will synthesize and build initiatives, solutions, and action programs to protect and strengthen democracy.

We have human-sounding AI technology that responds to customer service calls and helps customers navigate the issues they face.

We have smart assistants that wake their users up on time, share information about the weather outside and report on the latest news.

We have intelligent tools taking over administrative tasks such as meeting scheduling, calendar management, or even lead generation while the employees focus on more important tasks that require human judgment.

With AI getting more and more pervasive in our day-to-day lives, it is gradually turning into an integral, seamless and natural element — something many considered impossible only a few years ago. And I believe the fast pace of its development and its current ubiquity are due to its unique ability to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence — and learn to get better at completing them over a short period of time.

Since AI already automates repetitive tasks and can increase accuracy and efficiency, and since it can discover hidden insights and trends thanks to its algorithms, it may only be a matter of time until it revolutionizes the bookkeeping and accounting practices in place today. According to one Accounting Today article, AI technologies could automate the lengthy process of gathering, sorting and visualizing pertinent data, while human employees are left to focus on more productive tasks and have more time to achieve tangible results and business goals. These capabilities are not fictional — in fact, systems such as QuickBooks have already been introducing AI tools that allow client companies (big or small) to automate repetitive office work and improve cash flow forecasts.

What the achievements in AI applications today have proven to me is their ability to allow humans to exercise their judgment and creativity, while computers are left to assist them in relatively more operational, systematic and reason-driven assignments and tasks. And while AI exhibits the elements of evolution and growth so inherent to human beings, it differs from its creators in very significant ways: self-awareness and human relationships.

According to Artificial Intelligence World Society Innovation Network (AIWS.net), AI can be an important tool to serve and strengthen democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. In this effort, AIWS.net invites participation and collaboration with think tanks, universities, non-profits, companies, and other entities that share its commitment to the constructive and development of AI.

The original article can be found here.

Governor Michael Dukakis, co-founder of the Boston Global Forum and co-author of the Social Contract 2020, will speak at the United Nations Charter Day Roundtable, June 26, 2020. This event is co-organized by the United Nations Academic Impact and the Boston Global Forum (AI World Society Innovation Network – AIWS.net).

This is a special event to celebrate the United Nations Charter Day June 26. This is also the first roundtable of the series United Nations 2045 Initiative (100 years of United Nations), moderated by Chief United Nations Academic Impact and Editor-in-Chief of the United Nations Chronicle Magazine, Ramu Damodaran.

Governor Michael Dukakis was a politician and leader who made miracle stories in Massachusetts as a 3-term governor, and the Democratic Party Nominee for President of the United States 1988. Currently he is a distinguished professor of Northeastern University and UCLA.

Gov. Dukakis co-created: “World Leader in Peace and Cybersecurity” Award; “World Leader in AI World Society” Award, and the AI World Society Initiative. Together with Nguyen Anh Tuan he also established December 12 as the annual Global Cybersecurity Day. Gov. Dukakis also coauthored, “The concepts of AI-Government,” “Ethics Code of Conduct for Cyber Peace and Security (ECCC),” and the “BGF-G7 Summit Initiative Report.”

While writing a proposal for the Democratic Alliance on Digital Governance (DADG) and developing the Social Contract 2020, I conceived an idea: to upgrade civil society to intellectual society.

Father of Internet, Vint Cerf, who was honored as a World Leader in AI World Society, said: “the best detector of misinformation and disinformation is critical thinking”. Misinformation and disinformation are big challenges and threats to the world in the age of the Internet, AI, and social media.

Our dream is that in 2045 (100 years of the United Nations and the end of World War II), citizens will have good and knowledge-based education, critical thinking, and intellect so that they can contribute actions, initiatives, and solutions to solve social issues. We named the term “Intellectual Society”. There are very interesting discussions about this new term, concept, and its name.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Professor Nazli Choucri, Professor Thomas Patterson, Professor John Quelch contributed names:

1. Intellectual Society
2. Knowledge-Based Global Society
3. Global Innovation Society
4. The UN Next Century Society

We chose the name “Intellectual Society”. Even though some said, “sound erudite to me” and “like elite”, but we are very delighted to see this new concept and term to be quite attractive. We will continue to learn more from our friends and open to invite you to contribute a name with your thinking.