by Editor | Jun 13, 2021 | Event Updates
The soft copy of book “Remaking the World – The Age of Global Enlightenment” will be delivered to readers starting on June 21, 2021.
The book will introduce goals of the United Nations Centennial Initiative: contributing ideas and solutions in creating a path, to shape and remake the world in 2045 – the Global Age of Enlightenment. Here is the list of distinguished leaders and thinkers that contributed toward the book and the year of their contributions:
Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan (2015)
Ash Carter, Former US Secretary of Defense (2020)
Vint Cerf, “Father of the Internet”, Google (2020)
Nazli Choucri, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 5/2021
Ramu Damodaran, Chief of United Nations Academic Impact (5/2021)
Michael Dukakis, Former Governor of Massachusetts, Chair, Boston Global Forum (2021)
Robin Kelly, U.S. Representative (Illinois), 2020
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary-General (2016)
Didzis Kļaviņš, University of Latvia (2021)
Taro Kono, Defense Minister, Japan (2019)
Zlatko Lagumdzija, Former Prime Minister, Bosnia & Herzegovina (2021)
Stavros Lambrinidis, EU Ambassador to the United States (2021)
Ursula von der Leyen, President of European Commission
Yasuhide Nakayama, Defense State Minister, Japan (2020)
Paul Nemitz, Principal Advisor, European Commission (2021)
Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO, Boston Global Forum (2021)
Andreas Norlén, Speaker, Swedish Parliament (2020)
Joseph Nye, Harvard University (2020)
Zaneta Ozolina, University of Latvia, Co-Chair of Riga Conference (2021)
Thomas Patterson, Harvard University, 2021
Judea Pearl, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 2020
Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2021
Sir Ian Duncan Smith, MP, UK Parliament (2020)
Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid, Former President of Latvia (2019)
by Editor | Jun 3, 2021 | News
Professor Thomas Patterson, Harvard Kennedy School, President of AIWS University wrote one of the many chapters in the book “Remaking the World – the Age of Global Enlightenment”. Here are some sections from his writing:
“Such concerns lead us to conclude that there is a need for a new social contract, one fitted to the AI age and that seeks to maximize the benefits of AI and minimize its exploitation. Without such guidelines, AI entails significant risks to the wellbeing of individuals and nations.
By definition, a social contract is based on the rights and interests of individuals, and what governments and other entities must do and are prohibited from doing to safeguard those rights and interests. Social contract theory begins with the assumption that the power arrangement that individuals would willingly accept is one where they do not know in advance their position in society, whether they will be among its advantaged or disadvantaged members. Reasoning from that assumption, John Locke, one of the first social contract theorists, posited a society that protected life, liberty, and property through lawful restraints on those in power.”
“There should also be an independent organization that would create a system for monitoring governments and firms for their compliance with an AI International Accord (AIIA). Freedom House and other such organizations exist to monitor policies and behaviors in other spheres. These organizations lack formal authority but have the standing to call out noncompliant actors and to identify areas where progress is being made, and where additional progress is most needed. In the case of AIIA, any such organization would have to be structured, staffed, and funded in ways that confer authority and legitimacy on its assessments and judgments. Support for and endorsement of its mission by like-minded nations would also be critical to its success.”
by Editor | Jun 3, 2021 | News
Governor Michael Dukakis wrote the introduction of the book “Remaking the world – the Age of Global Enlightenment,” published by Boston Global Forum and the United Nations Academic Impact. In this, he wrote:
“Nothing is more urgent than peace and security in the world, and no organization is better positioned to promote it than is the United Nations. That has been true since its inception in 1945, although the lesson of the last seventy-five years is that the UN’s mandate must be enlarged if it is to fulfill the ideals on which it was founded. The task between now and the UN’s centennial in 2045 is the remake the UN so that it can play an even larger role in remarking the world.
This book offers ideas that can inform that effort. The ideas are meant to stimulate thought and discussion. Some of the ideas will undoubtedly, and properly, fall by the wayside during the deliberative process. Other ideas, not in this book, will come to the fore. A great deal of thought and experience went into the founding of the United Nations, and that kind of effort is needed once again as we consider how to enhance this remarkable institution.
On behalf of the Boston Global Forum, I want to thank the distinguished women and men who have contributed to the book. In one form or another, they have dedicated their careers to the service of others, and to the common good, and their essays reflect that dedication.
A special thank you is due to the book’s editor, Nguyen Anh Tuan. He envisioned the book project and assembled and guided the contributors. His commitment to world peace and security is unflagging, and the book is yet another testament to his dedication.”
by Editor | Jun 3, 2021 | News
Eva Kaili, Chair, European Parliament’s Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel (STOA) and the Centre for Artificial Intelligence (C4AI), joins the Boston Global Forum AI International Accord Committee. She will speak at the “Fundamental Rights in AI and Digital Society: Towards an International Accord” Policy Lab co-organized by Boston Global Forum and Club de Madrid on September 7-9th, 2021.
Governor Michael Dukakis, Co-founder and Chair of the Boston Global Forum wrote: “We are aware of Eva Kaili’s great leadership within the European Parliament, especially in pushing for coordinated efforts in global AI standard-setting to promote trustworthy human-centered AI and advancing the establishment of the European Digital Single Market.”
Eva Kaili wrote: “It would be an honour to be part of the Boston Global Forum and cooperate in the Artificial Intelligence International Accord project”.
Eva Kaili is a Member of the European Parliament, part of the Hellenic S&D Delegation since 2014. She is Member of the Committees on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), Budgets (BUDG), and the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA). Eva is a member of the delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (DACP), the delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula (DARP), and the delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (DNAT). In her capacity, she has been working intensively on promoting innovation as a driving force of the establishment of the European Digital Single Market. She has been the draftsperson of multiple pieces of legislation in the fields of blockchain technology, online platforms, big data, fintech, AI and cybersecurity, as well as the ITRE draftsperson on Juncker plan EFSI2 and more recently the InvestEU program.
by Editor | Jun 3, 2021 | Event Updates
The Boston Global Forum and Club de Madrid have decided organize the online “Fundamental Rights in AI and Digital Society: Towards an International Accord” Policy Lab on September 7 – 9, 2021.
From June 2021, the AI International Accord Committee include government leaders, distinguished thinkers, and business leaders, who will discuss and contribute toward the 2nd version of the Framework for AI International Accord.
by Editor | May 31, 2021 | News
Professor Thomas Patterson, Harvard Kennedy School, President of AIWS University, presented
“Remaking the World: A Social Contract for the AI Age.” Here is his message:
While AI can do much good it can also do harm. AI entails risks, such as opaque decision-making, gender-based and other forms of discrimination, unwarranted intrusion in our private lives, and more. AI is making authoritarian regimes more durable. In the 1990s, the median life span of such regimes was roughly 10 years. Now it’s twice that long. A study by the Mass Mobilization Project found that the most durable authoritarian regimes are ones that utilize surveillance technology to track and control their people. Once people know that their government is tracking them, they become compliant.
Governments are not the only ones exploiting AI. So too, for example, are tech companies that manipulate people’s buying behavior and malicious actors who spread disinformation and discord.
Such concerns lead us to conclude that there is a need for a new social contract, one fitted to the AI age and that seeks to maximize the benefits of AI and minimize its exploitation. Without such guidelines, AI entails significant risks to the wellbeing of individuals and nations.
https://bostonglobalforum.org/bgf2022/news-and-events/the-united-nations-centennial-bgf-and-unai-initiative/
by Editor | May 31, 2021 | News
On May 27, 2021, at launching the book, Governor Michael Dukakis, Co-founder and Chair of Boston Global Forum, presented remarks, made a significant point that resonated with discussions, stating that we should “marry our thinkers with our doers”.
“That’s essentially why we’re here isn’t it? To see if we can marry our thinkers with our doers in a way that makes them thinker-doers. That it doesn’t isolate that knowledge in a corner in some place and make it something unusual, difficult and not applicable. And that’s the big challenge”.
He raised the role of the United Nations for global peace, security, and prosperity today and future.
Governor Michael Dukakis, Professor Thomas Patterson, and Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan contributed a special chapter: using AI and Digital to innovate, reform politics and make a smart democracy.
by Editor | May 31, 2021 | Event Updates
The United Nations Academic Impact and Boston Global Forum officially launched their “Remaking the world – The Age of Global Enlightenment” e-book on May 27th, 2021, with ideas, and solutions to reshape the world to become peaceful, prosperous, secure as we move towards an age of global enlightenment.
In opening remarks of the event, Mr. Ramu Damodaran, Chief of United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and co-Chair of the United Nations Centennial BGF and UNAI Initiative, reminds us to “never think of the destination of your journey, think about the travel” as we make our mark towards an age of Artificial Intelligence and technology. In this journey, the E-book is a significant step, paving the way for advancements in digital international governance.
Conversations among the contributors to the e-book highlighted key aspects of the initiative, from the need for an alliance of like-minded individuals, to stressing the importance of education in promoting AI in the next decades.
Alex Sandy Pentland went in detail on his contributions to the e-book as well as urged for a change in the SDG 2030 goals to move towards a more positive light. By improving the SDG 2030 goals, Pentland hopes the world would improve access to opportunity, which would then in turn help reach the UN Centennial’s goals.
Former Bosnia-Herzegovina Prime Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija who expressed the need for global leaders in this enterprise towards a global enlightenment to support such initiatives like the e-book and the Social Contract for the AI Age. He also presents the idea of an International Artificial Intelligence Agency (IAIA) as a proper governance structure to enforce the initiatives and strengthen their impact in a world of social change. The prime minister hopes that AI World Society will move from being an initiative to becoming a doctrine to solidify this undertaking in world society.
“Now I see that AIWS that include seven-layer models, Social Contract for the AI Age, Framework for Artificial Intelligence International Accord, concept of new economy and finance system, AIWS values and AIWS city, it can be concluded based on those things, that we did in such a short period, became a doctrine for something which can be called remaking the world in the age of global enlightenment”
“If we want to make a difference, if we want to make pressure on decision-makers, we have to connect as much as possible, something in which I call in a broad scale, an alliance with like-minded entities”
Distinguished leaders and thinkers that also have contribute contents for the book include: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, EU President Ursula von der Leyen, Speaker of Swedish Parliament Andreas Norlen, Secretay-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, Father of the Internet Vint Cerf, Professor Judea Pearl, Professor Alex Sandy Pentland, Professor Joseph Nye, Professor Thomas Patterson, Professor Nazli Choucri, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan and many more.
The book “Remaking the world – the Age of Global Enlightenment” will delivered to readers on June 21, 2021.
by Editor | May 22, 2021 | News
Father of the Internet, Vint Cerf, member of AIWS City’s Board of Leaders, contribute his concepts of the People Centered Economy to the e-book “Remaking the world – The Age of Global Enlightenment”
Here are some of his quotes in the book:
““We have to raise this point of people-centeredness because we have become a society that is deeply dependent on machines. We are a creative species. We are a species that are tool makers and as our history has unfolded we have increased our dependence on and our ability to create machines that work for us or help us do our work. So I think that it’s very important for us to recall the people-centered focus that we are drawn to in today’s discussions.”
“What I need for you to appreciate is that the side effects of invention do not always become apparent when they are invented and when they are put to use. Indeed in some cases it may take decades to understand in some depth the consequences of technology.»
«Machine learning is a powerful new tool and as we explore all of its powerful positive uses which we experience daily, we will eventually experience the abuses to which this new technology is put to work and we will be confronted once again with the question of how to manage that problem»
«We know that machine learning tools don’t always get it right. We also know that some of the failures are quite subtle although they are also dramatic.»
«The machine learning system doesn’t see things the way we do. Human beings have this amazing ability to abstract from images to recognize various features in the images that that help us identify things the machine learning tools are recognizing features but not necessarily the ones that you and I would normally use in order to identify a cat and a dog and a crocodile. This is just one very trivial example of the ways in which machine learning tools can fail and the reason that’s so important for us to keep this in mind is that the failures can be very harmful.»
«It’s essential to have in the back of our minds a sense for how those tools might fail or might be deliberately abused and you we will need an international call operation in order to induce and introduce this people-centeredness into the use of artificial intelligence because we will use these techniques on a global scale.»
«So now we have to figure out what the international agreements are going to be. Not only to deal with the abuses of the internet and its applications but also the potential abuses of machine learning. That is going to require some deep thought and some deep understanding and some dependence on technologists who are much smarter than I am.»”
