Professor Thomas Patterson, co-founder of the Boston Global Forum, and AIWS.net, co-author of the Social Contract 2020, spoke at the AIWS Roundtable, co-organized by the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid and the Boston Global Forum on August 13, 2020. He addressed these questions:
Digitization processes in any sphere should include a multi-stakeholder approach, therefore, is fundamental to promote a broad consensus among political elites, companies and citizens for the implementation of digital tools such as Internet voting. This calls for a transparent, involved and participated process, where the relevant actors have a voice. In this context, what role can multilateral organizations play here? How could we generate consensus among the different stakeholders to move forward with digitization in democracy and, especially, in elections?
The spread and penetration of digital technologies has been transforming society and the COVID-19 outbreak and ensuing global health crisis has significantly accelerated this process, imposing rapid and widespread digitalization even in the political sphere. Technology is part of our daily life. We can do numerous procedures electronically such as bank transfers, purchases, etc. However, this modernization in public administration lags behind. What do you think are the causes of this delay in digitizing processes such as voting? How can we use digitalization to make democratic and sustainable environment? (i.e. Digitalization could reduce costs in the Public Administration in the long term and produce investments with these savings in other policies)
Politics has now caught up with digitalization, but policy is still lagging behind. How can we improve electoral governance in the COVID-19 era? How can we hold electoral processes in the COVID-19 era while maintaining political and electoral rights? Join us in this Online AIWS Roundtable and Club de Madrid Live Session in collaboration with the Boston Global Forum.
‘Digital Technologies, Elections and Democracy in times of COVID-19’ is an online AIWS Roundtable and Club de Madrid Live Session in collaboration with the Boston Global Forum.
COVID-19 is pushing us into digital democracy. But are we prepared for the digital transformation of political processes and elections?
Politics are undergoing a process of digital transformation spurred by COVID-19. Cabinet meetings and even parliamentary sessions via videoconference are not a rare sight since the pandemic’s outbreak. Politics has now caught up with digitalization, but policy is still lagging behind.
The pandemic has dealt a blow to our economic and political systems: Elections are no exception. While some administrations have chosen to postpone elections, others have held these under extraordinary circumstances, altering timelines and voting procedures while ensuring free, fair and transparent votings.
How can we streamline electoral processes during COVID-19 without affecting political and electoral rights? How can we improve electoral governance in such a context? Is there a danger in election manipulation and hacking, particularly in countries with poor digital infrastructure?
Maria Elena Aguero, Secretary General of World Leadership Alliance–Club de Madrid and Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of the Boston Global Forum welcomed and opened the AIWS Roundtable. Speakers Joyce Banda, President of Malawi (2012-2014), Hanna Suchocka, Prime Minister of Poland (1992-1993), Allan Doss, Special Adviser to the Kofi Annan Foundation, Professor Thomas Patterson, Harvard University, and Marc Rotenberg, Director of Center for AI and Policy at the Michael Dukakis Institute, spoke and discuss.
Here are some key messages from Marc Rotenberg’s talk:
Health Crisis and Electoral Governance – Steps to Take
Observe necessary health guidance in all matters concerning elections (Resources: WHO, CDC, national agencies)
Communicate clearly to state officials and the public the safety guidance that will be followed (Resources: national agency websites, technology to educate and inform)
Communicate clearly to public all necessary information about voting participation (Resources: national agency websites, technology to educate and inform)
Electronic Voting – Considerations
Goals: (1) maximize voter participation (ensure easy and safe access to voting locations), (2) ensure accuracy of vote tally (independent agency to verify), (3) protect the “secret ballot,” the ability of voters to cast a vote without revealing who they voted for
Voting experts are concerned about three problems: (1) disinformation, (2) reliability of online voting, and (3) preservation of secret ballot
Disinformation: Consider source attribution for paid political advertising. Maintain strong independent media to monitor and counter propaganda. Support non-partisan research and NGOs committed to democratic institutions.
Reliability of Online Voting. Widespread concern that “electronic only” voting is too easily subject to manipulation. Consider range of risks: political parties, criminal hackers, foreign adversaries. “Verified voting” in polling place (paper ballot that is optically scanned) preferred. Some experimentation with online voting (e.g. Estonia) but still skepticism.
Preservation of Secret Ballot. Not a problem when a piece of paper is put a box. A complex problem when votes are cast online or by fax.
Advantages of Vote by Mail over Telematic Voting
Vote by mail provides the paper verification favored by election security experts
Vote by mail failures tend to be localized, limited in scope, and easy to detect. Telematic voting failures can be far-reaching and difficult to detect.
Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka, WLA-CdM Member, Prime Minister of Poland (1992-1993), spoke at the AIWS Roundtable “Digital Technologies, Elections, and Democracy in times of COVID-19, co-organized by World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid and the Boston Global Forum on August 13, 2020. She addressed:
Poland was the first EU country to hold presidential elections in times of the pandemic. How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the elections in terms of electoral campaigns, electoral observation, and the elections day itself? One of the characteristics of the Polish elections were that the campaigns had to be done through the Internet and social networks due to the pandemic. From her point of view, how was this process? What was the impact of technology on this?
Drawing on her experience as a Member of the Venice Commission, whose full name is the European Commission for Democracy through Law, which analyzes democratic institutions, fundamental rights and offers codes of good practice for electoral integrity, she spoke about how electronic voting could increase the percentage of participation for groups that usually have a low participation or whether this is due to a deeper debate linked to the political culture of these groups
“All people can create value for each other. A good economy has an ecosystem of organizations that lets that happen, in the most meaningful and fulfilling ways.”
How can we make this idea happen through using AI and the Internet?
How can we apply and practice this idea?
The Internet plays a significant role in data science and AI, so the History of AI Initiative at Michael Dukakis Institute considers Vint Cerf as a historical figure in AI. At this United Nations 2045 Roundtable, Vint Cerf will talk about historical moments in the birth of the Internet and how to use the Internet and AI to shape bright futures and to create an ecosystem for work and life with the philosophy of the People Centered Economy. With concepts from the New Social Contract in the Age of AI, Intellectual Society-Thoughtful Civil Society, and the People Centered Economy, AI World Society (AIWS) conceives concepts of the AIWS City as applying and practicing the thoughts and ideas of Vint Cerf.
The People Centered Economy: The New AI and Internet Ecosystem for Work and Life
Time: 9:30 am – 10:45 am EDT, August 21, 2020
This is a UN 2045 Roundtable and an event of the History of AI
Keynote speaker: Vint Cerf, Father of the Internet
Speakers: Governor Michael Dukakis, Co-founder and Chairman of the Boston Global Forum, Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of the Boston Global Forum
Moderator: Ramu Damodaran, Chief of the United Nations Academic Impact
Discussants: Professor Nazli Choucri, MIT, Professor Hiroshi Esaki, University of Tokyo, Professor Mikhail Kupriyanov, Vice Rector, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnology University, Former Prime Minister Bosnia & Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdžija, Dr. Chien Minh Le, President of Dalat University,Professor Jun Murai, Keio University, Father of the Internet Japan, Professor David Silbersweig, Harvard University
Agenda:
9:30 am: Opening Remarks, Governor Michael Dukakis
Remarks on United Nations 2045 Initiative, Keynote Speaker Vint Cerf, and discussants; Ramu Damodaran
Keynote speech: “The People Centered Economy: The New AI and Internet Ecosystem for Work and Life”, Vint Cerf
Introduce AIWS City, a model that applies the concept “The People Centered Economy: The New AI and Internet Ecosystem for Work and Life”, Nguyen Anh Tuan
Discussion: Zlatko Lagumdžija, Jun Murai, NazliChoucri, Hiroshi Esaki, David Silbersweig, Mikhail Kupriyanov, Le Minh Chien. Moderator: Ramu Damodaran
10:40 am: Conclude, Ramu Damodaran
The United Nations 2045 Initiative:
The United Nations 2045 is an initiative of the United Nations Academic Impact with collaboration by the Boston Global Forum.
The United Nations 2045 include roundtables, ideas, concepts, solutions, essays, and reflections looking ahead to the global landscape in 2045, when the United Nations completes its first centenary, in areas of these technologies, including artificial intelligence, cyber security and weapons systems, among others. Such a compilation which looks both to the horizon ahead and the role of the United Nations in making it beneficial and secure, would be timely.
The History of AI Initiative:
The History of AI research and explore historical achievements, events, and figures in AI.
The HAI Board is chaired by Governor Michael Dukakis, with Professor Nazli Choucri (MIT), Historian Le Minh Chien, President of Dalat University, Professor Caroline Jones, MIT, Professor Ole Molvig (Vanderbilt University), Tuan Anh Nguyen (Michael Dukakis Institute), Professor Thomas Patterson (Harvard University), Professor Judea Pearl (UCLA), Professor Alex Pentland (MIT), Professor David Silbersweig (Harvard University), Professor Caroline Jones, MIT, and President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Latvia as members.
The “The History of AI” Board will review and identify historical events, figures, and achievements in AI. After the HAI Board approve them, they will be made official historical events, figures, achievements in AI and posted on the AI Chronicle at AIWS.net. The HAI Board will review and select contents for books and papers of the History of AI.
Following Keynote Speaker Vint Cerf, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan introduced the AIWS City. Here are some key messages from Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan’s talk.
Tax policy analysis is a well-developed field with a robust body of research and extensive modeling infrastructure across think tanks and government agencies. Because tax policy affects everyone, and especially wealthy people, it gets both a lot of attention and research funding (notably from individual foundations like those of Peter G. Peterson and Koch brothers). In addition to empirical studies, organizations like the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center and the Joint Committee on Taxation produce microsimulations of tax policy to comprehensively model thousands of levers of policymaking. However, because it is difficult to guess how people will react to changing public policy scenarios, these models are limited in how much they account for individual behavioral factors. Although it is far from certain, artificial intelligence (AI) might be able to help address this notable deficiency in tax policy, and recent work has highlighted this possibility.
A team of researchers from Harvard and Salesforce developed an AI system designed to propose new tax policies, which they call the AI economist. While the results of their initial analysis are not destined for the U.S. Code of Law, the approach they are proposing is potentially quite meaningful. Most current tax policy models infer how people would respond to a change in policy based on the results of prior research. In the AI economist approach, though, the actions of the computational economic participants were instead learned from a simplified game economy. They did this using a type of AI called reinforcement learning.
In pretty much any social-good application, AI does nothing on its own. However, with prudent application by domain experts, AI can lead to incremental improvements that, over time, have meaningful impact—as is true in policy research. Economists Susan Athey and Guido Imbens write “though the adoption of [machine learning] methods in economics has been slower, they are now beginning to be widely used in empirical work.” They are referring to machine learning methods for econometrics questions (such as causal inference), and less so simulations, but it’s possible that too will change over time.
In the field of causal inference, Professor Judea Pearl is a pioneer for developing a theory of causal and counterfactual inference based on structural models. In 2011, Professor Pearl won the Turing Award, computer science’s highest honor, for “fundamental contributions to artificial intelligence through the development of a calculus of probabilistic and causal reasoning.” In 2020, Professor Pearl is also awarded as World Leader in AI World Society (AIWS.net) by Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation (MDI) and Boston Global Forum (BGF). At this moment, Professor Judea also contributes to Causal Inference for AI transparency, which is one of important AIWS.net topics on AI Ethics.
Politics has now caught up with digitalization, but policy is still lagging behind. How can we improve electoral governance in the COVID-19 era? How can we hold electoral processes in the COVID-19 era while maintaining political and electoral rights? Join us in this Online AIWS Roundtable and Club de Madrid Live Session in collaboration with the Boston Global Forum.
‘Digital Technologies, Elections and Democracy in times of COVID-19’ is an online AIWS Roundtable and Club de Madrid Live Session in collaboration with the Boston Global Forum.
COVID-19 is pushing us into digital democracy. But are we prepared for the digital transformation of political processes and elections?
Politics are undergoing a process of digital transformation spurred by COVID-19. Cabinet meetings and even parliamentary sessions via videoconference are not a rare sight since the pandemic’s outbreak. Politics has now caught up with digitalization, but policy is still lagging behind.
The pandemic has dealt a blow to our economic and political systems: Elections are no exception. While some administrations have chosen to postpone elections, others have held these under extraordinary circumstances, altering timelines and voting procedures while ensuring free, fair and transparent votings.
How can we streamline electoral processes during COVID-19 without affecting political and electoral rights? How can we improve electoral governance in such a context? Is there a danger in election manipulation and hacking, particularly in countries with poor digital infrastructure?
The Session will be moderated by Milburn Line, Senior Advisor for Policy and Content at the Shared Societies Project of the World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid
Join us in this Club de Madrid and AIWS Live Session in collaboration with the Boston Global Forum on ‘Digital Technologies, Elections and Democracy in the times of COVID-19’ on 13 August at 9:00 EST / 15:00 CET to discuss the digitalization of democracy.
This event is a continuation of the event on August 5, 2020, which was stopped after 35 minutes due to technical problems during Live Session with speakers below:
The AI World Government was organized for the first time was organized in Washington DC in June 2019 with support of the Boston Global Forum, Michael Dukakis Institute and AI World Society. This year, the AI World Government was planned in June 2020 in Washington DC, but due to complications from COVID-19, it was decided that the 2020 AI World Government would be organized virtually from 28 to 30 October, 2020. AI World Society Innovation Network (AIWS.net) is honored to be a strategic alliance partner and will present the Social Contract 2020 and other new initiatives of AIWS.net at the 2020 AI World Government.
2020 AI World Government provides a comprehensive three-day virtual forum to educate public sector agencies on proven strategies and tactics to deploy AI and cognitive technologies. With AI technology at the forefront of our everyday lives, there are significant efforts already underway by federal agencies to deploy and integrate data-driven government services. In fact, most federal agencies have already begun projects to leverage the rapid rise in availability of intelligent automation solutions. AI World Government gathers leaders from our nation’s strong innovation ecosystem across government, technology, business and research to present the state of the practice and state of the technology to assist in leveraging advanced intelligent technologies to enhance government services.
Join 1,100+ Colleagues at the Largest Independent AI Federal Government Event of the Year!
Complimentary Registration for Government Employees through August 21
World peace and security are threatened by disputed territories and extreme nationalism, especially when great powers are contestants.
To maintain world peace and security, the Boston Global Forum organize the Online Dialog of “Disputing Territories and World Peace”
The Dialog will discuss and debate disputes between Japan-China, India-Chia, amongst others.
The Boston Global Forum have invited government leaders, legislators and thinkers from US, Japan, India, China, and other countries to dialog from August 8, 2020. The Dialog of “Disputing Territories and World Peace” started with the talk of Seiichi Eto, the Japanese Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, about the Senkaku Islands.
By using AI, AIWS.net will be able to evaluate and judge disputes more fairly.
On August 5, 2020, State Secretary Michael Pompeo announced the expansion of the clean network to safeguard America’s assets. The program highlights many points that were also from the Social Contract 2020
The Clean Network program is the Trump Administration’s comprehensive approach to guarding our citizens’ privacy and our companies’ most sensitive information from aggressive intrusions by malign actors, such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Today, I am announcing the launch of five new lines of effort to protect America’s critical telecommunications and technology infrastructure.
These programs are rooted in internationally accepted digital trust standards and built upon the 5G Clean Path initiative, announced on April 29, 2020, to secure data traveling on 5G networks into U.S. diplomatic facilities overseas and within the United States.
The five new lines of effort for the Clean Network are as follows:
Clean Carrier: To ensure untrusted People’s Republic of China (PRC) carriers are not connected with U.S. telecommunications networks. Such companies pose a danger to U.S. national security and should not provide international telecommunications services to and from the United States.
Clean Store: To remove untrusted applications from U.S. mobile app stores. PRC apps threaten our privacy, proliferate viruses, and spread propaganda and disinformation. American’s most sensitive personal and business information must be protected on their mobile phones from exploitation and theft for the CCP’s benefit.
Clean Apps: To prevent untrusted PRC smartphone manufacturers from pre-installing –or otherwise making available for download – trusted apps on their apps store. Huawei, an arm of the PRC surveillance state, is trading on the innovations and reputations of leading U.S. and foreign companies. These companies should remove their apps from Huawei’s app store to ensure they are not partnering with a human rights abuser.
Clean Cloud: To prevent U.S. citizens’ most sensitive personal information and our businesses’ most valuable intellectual property, including COVID-19 vaccine research, from being stored and processed on cloud-based systems accessible to our foreign adversaries through companies such as Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent.
Clean Cable: To ensure the undersea cables connecting our country to the global internet are not subverted for intelligence gathering by the PRC at hyper scale. We will also work with foreign partners to ensure that undersea cables around the world aren’t similarly subject to compromise.
The AIWS Social Contract has concepts to protect democracy in AI and digital technologies and business.
At the same time, the US should update its own privacy laws. This should not simply be a national security battle with China. The broader goal should be to strengthen fundamental rights and democratic institutions and support the Social Contract 2020.
