The History of AI Award 2021

The History of AI Award 2021

The History of AI Board recognized the below achievements for the History of AI Award 2021, which will be display at the History of AI House:

  1. Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonised rules on Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union Legislative Acts
  2. Framework for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital, developed by Boston Global Forum and Michael Dukakis Institute.
  3. The Global Alliance for Digital Governance, established by Boston Global Forum and Club de Madrid.
  4. The book Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment, the core of the United Nations Centennial Initiative.
  5. Delphi, a MIT-Janssen’s COVID-19 Forecast Model – MIT researchers and scientists at Janssen Research & Development (Janssen) leveraged real-world data and applied artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to help guide the company’s research efforts into a potential vaccine.

We will deliver more details on December 31, 2021 on the Boston Global Forum website (BostonGlobalForum.org)

Global Enlightenment Community introduces the Declaration of Action of Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital

Global Enlightenment Community introduces the Declaration of Action of Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital

On December 12, 2021, at BGF Symposium “The Framework for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital”, some Pillars of the Global Enlightenment introduced the “Declaration of Action of Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital”. The Global Enlightenment Community is a core value of the AIWS City to practice principles, anchors of the Age of Global Enlightenment. This community is formed by its pillars, who are 25 distinguished contributors of the book Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment:

 

Shinzō Abe, Prime Minister of Japan (9/2006-9/2007, 12/2012-9/2020), 2015 World Leader for Peace and Security Award.

Ashton Carter, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Belfer Professor of Technology and Global Affairs, Harvard University.

Vint Cerf, “Father of the Internet”, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, Co-author of Social Contract for the AI Age, 2019 World Leader in AI Society Award.

Nazli Choucri, Professor of Political Science, MIT, Boston Global Forum Board Member.

Ramu Damodaran, Chief of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), Co-Chair of the United Nations Centennial – BGF and UNAI Initiative in Honor of the United Nations 2045 Centenary.

Michael Dukakis, Former Governor of Massachusetts, Chairman of the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Boston Global Forum, Co-Founder of the AI World Society.

Eva Kaili, Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the European Parliament’s Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel (STOA), Chair of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence (C4AI), Head of the Hellenic S&D delegation.

Robin Kelly, U.S. Representative (D-IL 2nd District), Vice Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1/1/2007 – 31/12/2016), Lead the UNESCO Global Education First Initiative, 2016 World Leader for Peace and Security Award.

Didzis Kļaviņš, Senior Researcher, University of Latvia.

Taro Kono, Japanese Minister of Defense (9/2019 – 9/2020), Member of the House of Representatives, Japan.

Zlatko Lagumdžija, Former Prime Minister and Former Foreign Minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina, World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid (WLA-CdM) Member, Member of the History of AI Board, AIWS.

Stavros Lambrinidis, Ambassador of the European Union to the United States, 2021 World Leader in AI World Society Award.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, 2020 World Leader for Peace and Security Award.

Yasuhide Nakayama, Japanese Defense State Minister, Member of the House of Representatives, Japan, Head of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party’s Foreign Affairs Division, Mentor of AIWS.net.

Paul Nemitz, Director for Fundamental Rights and Union citizenship in the Directorate-General for JUSTICE of the European Commission, co-author of the AIWS-G7 Summit Initiative 2019.

Nguyn Anh Tun, CEO of the Boston Global Forum, Director of the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation, Co-Founder of the AI World Society, Founder and former Editor in Chief of VietNamNet.

Andreas Norlén, Speaker of the Swedish Parliament.

Joseph Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus and former Dean of the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Member of Boston Global Forum’s Board of Thinkers.

Žaneta Ozoliņa, Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Latvia and the Director at the Centre for International Politics, Chairwoman of the Latvian Transatlantic Organization.

Thomas Patterson, Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, Harvard University, Research Director of The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation, Co-founder of the Boston Global Forum.

Judea Pearl, Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Cognitive Systems Lab at the University of California, Los Angeles, recipient of the A.M. Turing Award, 2020 World Leader in AI World Society Award.

Alex Pentland, the Toshiba Professor at MIT, Director, MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamics lab, Co-author of Social Contract for the AI Age.

Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, 6th President of Latvia (1999-2007), President of World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid (WLA-CdM) 2013-2019; 2019 World Leader for Peace and Security Award.

Creating a Global Model for Data Sharing and AI-Driven Sustainable Development as a top priority

Creating a Global Model for Data Sharing and AI-Driven Sustainable Development as a top priority

Francesco Lapenta, the Founding Director of the John Cabot University Institute of Future and Innovation Studies (Rome, Italy), a member of the History of AI Board of AIWS Innovation Network (AIWS.net), comments at the “Framework for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital” of December 12, 2021:

“We must begin taking critical first steps toward global collaboration and safe AI innovation.

One that stands out above the rest is:

  • Data and Diplomacy based on Open and FAIR Data Principles and Tools, (Data Stewardship and Data Trusts).

Regulation of data sharing is a critical issue that requires immediate international and national coordination, and with data serving as the only energy source for future AI applications, it is one of the most pressing areas of intervention. In medicine, 85 percent of research data is allegedly “wasted” and never used again. There are quantifiable scientific, social, and economic costs to “data waste” and “reproducing overlapping and duplicate data.” From this perspective, I consider “Open Data as Sustainable Data,” data that can significantly contribute to data waste reduction, the optimization and expediting of scientific discovery, increased social benefits, and contribute to economic growth. I consider creating a Global Model for Data Sharing and AI-Driven Sustainable Development a top priority.”

The Speech of Prime Minister Abe at “The Framework for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital”

The Speech of Prime Minister Abe at “The Framework for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital”

The full text could be read here.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the invitation to speak today. I made a visit to Boston in 2015 as then Prime Minister and have good memories of visiting the Kennedy Library, Harvard University and MIT. How I wish today that I could revisit Boston and make a real participation in the forum instead of a virtual one.

If we look at the world, we see drastic change in balance of power in recent years, as a result of the rise of nations with state views and values different from our own. In addition, the development of advanced technology is blurring the boundaries between “civilian and military” and “peacetime and contingency.

Cyber-attacks are a prime example of this, with malicious attacks in various forms threatening our peaceful daily lives. Moreover, in some cases, A.I. technology, which is supposed to enrich society, is misused for cyber-attacks.

The security environment surrounding us is undergoing significant changes along with the substantial progress in the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Let’s take cyberattacks as an example. Ransomware has become a major threat worldwide in recent years.

Here in Japan, people’s lives and safety are practically at stake, after some hospital facilities have become the target of Ransomware attacks and forced the suspend new medical consultations.

In addition, several cyber-attacks are large-scaled, shrewd, and strongly suspected of state involvement.

In recent years, critical infrastructures and software companies have been targeted, and therefore the damage tends to increase.

Japan, led by our intelligence bureau, is committed to attribution of such malicious attacks in cooperation with allied and comrade countries.  At the same time, our government is determined and collaborating together to promote a legal system that could overcome the vulnerability of critical infrastructure in light of national security.

In recent years, A.I. has been used in a variety of fields.

While sophistication of A.I. enriches and makes our daily lives increasingly convenient, it poses some risks.

There are nations that plan to spread disinformation through deep fakes and to incite and brainwash their citizens.

This is a obvious challenge to universal values of freedom and democracy that we should uphold.

Also, A.I. technology can also be used in actual weapons, and the nature of AI-based autonomous weapons has become the subject of international debate.

As I have just described, traditional approaches to realize security are not sufficient to deal with the various contemporary issues and challenges.

We need to think outside the box.

Former US Secretary of Commerce Cameron Kerry’s speech at “The Framework for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital” on December 12, 2021”

Former US Secretary of Commerce Cameron Kerry’s speech at “The Framework for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital” on December 12, 2021”

Cameron F. Kerry “The Framework for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital”

December 12, 2021

Boston Global Forum

It is a pleasure today to honor Andreas Norlén for his work as Speaker of the Swedish Riksdag in hammering out the formation a coalition government.  He has been honored across Europe (DE, Spain, Italy), and it is fitting that he is now being honored in the United States.

Sweden has long been held up as a paragon of social democracy and progressive policies.  I remember when it was an opposition research point that Mike Dukakis took reports on Swedish child care policy as beach reading.  Sweden has also been a global technology leader – with companies like Ericsson and Spotify, and people like Goran Marby at ICANN.

AN: “Like no other.”  The political currents Andreas Norlén faced are evidence that the challenges of fragmentation and polarization, nativism, authoritarianism, and disinformation politics are present even in the most democratic countries on earth.

This makes it all the more important that democratic countries band together. Artificial intelligence, e-commerce, malicious online content, election interference, and cyberthreats are all global issues magnified by network effects that no one country – even the United States – can manage by itself.

The issues are broad and complex, and there is no one forum capable of addressing all the issues.  Effective policymaking on challenges enabled by digital technology will many different avenues, a network of networks in parallel to the communications systems that link us.

The Boston Global Forum is one node of the wide and diverse network needed.  This week’s Democracy Summit is another.  The week before last, I attended the Future Tech Forum, where the UK government convened G7 members with ten other democratic countries that are global or regional leaders in digital technology to explore issues in technology policy and development emerging in the next 5-10 years and their implications for public policies.

Packets of progress can travel by diverse paths across these many networks and assemble into a recognizable whole.

AI has been a focus of the work the BGF and the Michael Dukakis Institute.  AI is a critical path for cooperation for several reasons.  First, it is essential to successful development.  In the 21st century, most scientific research involves international collaboration.  But this is particularly the case for AI research and development because it crosses institutions, disciplines, and borders because of the scale of data, compute power, skills needed, and relies heavily on open source software.

Cooperation also presents a unique opportunity for collaboration because every country is still in early stages of policymaking.  That makes it possible to align approaches in ways that can avoid divergence of the kind that is causing barriers to the free flow of data between the EU and the U.S. and present a coherent counterpoint to China’s techno-authoritarianism, prevent a race to the bottom.

Since the Policy Lab in September, along with Brookings Institution colleagues and partners at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, I released a comprehensive report  on international cooperation in artificial intelligence policy and development.  The report focuses on 15 concrete steps to put cooperation into practice.

It starts with a simple proposition, that likeminded governments “commit to considering international cooperation in drafting and implementing AI policies.” At the UK’s Future Tech Forum, the UK government gave an example of our recommendation in practice: it asked the participating countries to comment on its proposed Online Safety Act.  This is an unusual step—and one that needs to become a norm in digital policymaking.

Much of the report focuses on mechanics of regulation, risk assessment, and standards development.  Recall how the internet was developed – researchers like Tim Berners-Lee and organizations like WWW Forum, SDOs, ICANN — stakeholders and technicians – hammered out technical standards and systems.  These are an example of the kind of policymaking that needs to happen with regard to AI policy and standards – transnational, multistakeholder, public-private collaboration.

One difference from the technical development of the early internet is that the impact is many times broader, and some multinational corporations have acquired much great power. These companies are essential participants in the policymaking but cannot be the ones to make the rules.

There is one other concrete step for international collaboration on AI I want to mention today.  It is that likeminded government commit to collaboration on research and development on projects to harness AI for public goods of global importance, like earth observation for climate change, more powerful computation for privacy-protecting ways of sharing data, or monitoring of public health.

Such projects are ways not only to work together on solving important problems for humanity, but also of working through issues like ethics and data governance in the context of specific uses cases where there is strong motivation to get the job done. It is a challenge but, as President Kennedy said about going to the moon, we should do this “not because [it is] easy, but because {it is] hard… that goal will serve to organize the best measure of our energies and skills.”

*    *     *

AI is just one domain of digital policymaking where the U.S., its allies, and likeminded countries need to work in concert and align their policies. The price of not doing so is divergence and fragmentation. We already in effect have bifurcated internets on this earth, China’s and a shared internet. We don’t need further forking to diminish global network effects that benefit our planet.

I am grateful to BGF for its work to bring leaders around the world together to build cooperation and trust, and to Andreas Norlén for his example of the painstaking and patient building it takes to forge consensus out of disparate positions. These are the tasks ahead.

Download the speech is here

Former US Secretary of Commerce Cameron Kerry’s speech at “The Framework for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital” on December 12, 2021”

Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital: We need to think outside of the box

On Global Cyber Security Day, December 12, 2021, Boston Global Forum organized the Symposium “Framework for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital” with attendance of distinguished leaders and thinkers:

Governor Michael Dukakis, Speaker of Swedish Parliament Andreas Norlen, former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, former US Acting Secretary of Commerce Cameron Kerry, former President of Croatia Ivo Josipovic, former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdzija, European Parliament Member Eva Kaili, Professor Thomas Patterson, Professor Nazli Choucri, former Vice President of Mats Karlsson, President of Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Paul Nemitz, Francesco Lapenta, Robert Whitfield, Nguyen Anh Tuan, Jim McManus, and Former Assistant Secretary of Massachusetts Nam Pham.

Governor Michael Dukakis honored the Speaker of Riksdag, Andreas Norlen, as World Leader for Peace and Security 2021.

Distinguished speeches from Andreas Norlen, Cameron Kerry, and Shinzo Abe contributed thoughtful ideas and significant messages to the world today and to the Global Alliance for Digital Governance and Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital.

BGF will introduce these special speeches on the BGF website over the coming weeks.

The discussion and debate are brilliant with many great ideas for the Draft of Declaration of Action for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital.

Mr. Nam Pham, former Assistant Secretary of Massachusetts Government, raised his ideas in the discussion about the action plan for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital:

My most favorite Einstein’s quote is “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

Our current knowledge is that there is not much we can do to hold rogue regimes dictatorships like China or Russia accountable for their misuses of AI. So let’s imagine that we can come up with some concrete actionable plans that we can hold any bad actors accountable whether it is a bad country or corporation.

We need to think outside of the box and shoot for the stars or the moon.”

Remarks of Governor Dukakis honoring Speaker Andreas Norlen for the World Leader for Peace and Security Award 2021

Remarks of Governor Dukakis honoring Speaker Andreas Norlen for the World Leader for Peace and Security Award 2021

Boston, December 12, 2021

 

I am pleased to announce that this year’s recipient of the Boston Global Forum’s World Leader for Peace and Security Award is Andreas Norlén, Speaker of the Swedish Parliament, for his efforts to enhance transparency and unity in Sweden’s governmental processes.

In his speech at the AI World Society Summit 2020, Andreas Norlén recognized both the potentials and risks of Artificial Intelligence in governance. Misinformation and disinformation can have adverse effects on governmental processes and democracy, such as skewing public opinion and compromising trust in democracy. He pointed out that increasing public awareness and facilitating cooperation among parties and committees within the government can help to harness the power of AI while protecting democracy from the risks.

Since being elected Speaker of the Riksdag in 2018, Norlén has served as the Chair of the Committee on the Constitution, the War Delegation, the Committee on Justice, and the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs. He has played a pivotal role supporting constitutional matters relating to the media, the auditing of governmental processes, the Riksdag’s work on EU matters, issues concerning privacy, the central government budget process, and matters regarding the nomination of permanent judges in all Swedish courts.

Norlén has continually worked across party lines to ensure unified support for the conclusions reached by the Committee on the Constitution, and asserting that the practices determined by the Committee should obtain broad support in the Riksdag and remain uncompromised when there is a change in the political majority of the Riksdag.

These goals match those of the Boston Global Forum. We are also at one with Speaker Norlén on the need for an international accord on the use of Artificial Intelligence, based on shared values and democratic traditions, an accord that will require sustained Transatlantic leadership if it is to be realized.

For these and other reasons, the Boston Global Forum is pleased today to present our World Leader for Peace and Security Award to Speaker of the Swedish Parliament, Andreas Norlén.

Boston Global Forum introduces the Declaration of Action of Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital

Boston Global Forum introduces the Declaration of Action of Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital

At the Boston Global Forum Symposium “Framework for Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital”, BGF introduced a brief about the “Declaration of Action of Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital”.

Robert Whitfield, Chair of One World Trust, UK, presented its notes:

Share the ideas, and enrich the ideas and seek to get some momentum behind a movement, using a variety of formats

Dialogs

  • with political leaders, influencers
  • with business leaders and innovators
  • between political leaders and business leaders

Roundtables with

  • Governments, EU, UN
  • Congress, Parliaments, National Assembly
  • Think tanks, thought leaders, universities
  • Civil society organizations

Papers, Recommendations, Solutions, Initiatives, Statements, Blogs, Books, Debates, webinars, workshops

Robert Whitfield published the paper “AI Global Governance – What are we aiming for?” in November 2021.

 

BGF will officially announce and implement The Declaration of Action of Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital on January 9, 2021.