The moderator Douglas Frantz will introduce each panelist and make a short statement about the purpose of the panel and the project.
Then panelists will talk: average 7 minutes for each panelist talk.
Governor Michael Dukakis
Professor Nazli Choucri
State Minister Yasuhide Nakayama
President Vaira Vike-Freiberga
Prime Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija
Ms. Merve Hitkok
Then the moderator will discuss with panelists.
Finally, moderator will sum up views of panelists at the end of the session.
Time: 8:30 am – 10:30 am, EST, Feb 19, 2021.
Guidance on content:
Among the issues addressed by the Panel are the following:
Reviewing legal frameworks for AI and identifying essential elements for an international AI legal framework.
Defining methods to present abuses by governments and businesses in uses of AI, Data, Digital Technology, Cyberspace, (including attacking companies, organizations, and individuals on the Internet)
Articulating norms to manage robotics and cybersecurity, protecting Social Contract for the AI Age, democratic values, transparency, and accountability while ensuring equal opportunities across diverse socio-economic landscapes.
Supporting the provisions of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime as well as the EU General Directives and/or incorporating basic principles thereof
Sanctioning entities –including governments, businesses, and not-for profit actors — who violate the AI International Accord and/or Social Contract for the AI Age).
Purpose and Scope of the AI International Accord Initiative
– Create an initial framework for the AI International Accord
– Establish a World Alliance for Digital Governance focused on supporting to support the AI International Accord and the Social Contract for the AI Age.
– Design a Monitoring System to observe all abuses in applications of AI by private and public entities, and to identify notable violations of an emergent AI International Accord and of the Social Contract for the AI Age.
– Provide an initial “proof of concept” – in terms of implementation and operations in practice – focused on AIWS City
– Explore potentials for reviewing and regulating potential deviances or damage created by algorithm development and implementation.
1. Process toward AI International Accord Initiative (Proposed)
The following process is currently envisaged:
(1) Creation of Draft-Framework prepared by the AIIA Team
(2) Discussion and Review by
· AIIA Panels organized by Boston Global Forum and Michael Dukakis Institute
· Quad Roundtables organized by Boston Global Forum and Riga Conference 2021
(3) Communication of progress with governments and international organizations
(4) Creation of “alliances-for-system-test” to focus on challenges of implementation
(5) Implementation of on-site operation and assessments at AIWS City
(6) Assessment of results to this point
2. Review, Revisions, and Refinements
Identify the operational steps to be undertaken in, and addressed, at several levels and in different contexts:
Local
National
Regional
International
The results will reflect the inputs, reactions, and considerations at each level.
3. Endorsement and Support
We shall explore (and seek to obtain) the support of the following entities
– First Quad group and EU
– Second OECD countries
– Third United Nations
– Fourth Russia and China
4. Host and Partners:
Host: Boston Global Forum and Michael Dukakis Institute
Active Partners:
World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid
Riga Conference 2021
United Nations Academic Impact
Potential Partners:
European Commission
US, Japan, Australia, India, Sweden, Latvia
5. Timeline of Key Events:
Quad Roundtable April, 2021
AI International Accord
Riga Conference 2021
Session on AIIA
World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid, September 2021
World Leaders and AIIA
AIWS City as the place for initial implementation of AIIA
Boston Global Forum December 12, 2021
Announce the AIIA Accord and present World Leader for Peace and Security 2021 who made significant contributions to AIIA
6. Leadership:
– The Panel is convened under the leadership of Governor Michael Dukakis, and President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.
In a time of great challenge, we look to technology and its judicious use and an upwelling of human compassion. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic with its devastating health and economic consequences, our ability to work together is among the most vital strengths of our species. The invention of machine learning and other forms of artificial intelligence is already playing a key role in improving our well-being. These technologies that augment our human capacity have delivered vaccines in record times. In the midst of such troubled times, we can celebrate the tools we use, including the Internet, to collaborate on a global scale never before possible. May this New Year bring essential improvement in the well-being of the Vietnamese people wherever they may be.
Professor Judea Pearl has been named World Leader of 2020 by the Artificial Intelligence World Society for his watershed work on quantifying cause-and-effect relationships in statistical analysis. This is a significant leap forward because statisticians heretofore focused on correlations, and remained mute on causality as being within their analytical realm.
In presenting the award to Prof. Pearl, Gov. Michael J. Dukakis, Chairman of the Michael Dukakis institute, stated, “I am inspired by your watershed work in establishing cause-and-effect relationships as a statistical and mathematical concept; most especially as we strive to more completely understand the rapidly evolving impact of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning on society.”
He went on to say, “Your latest book, “The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect,” provides us with the new tools needed to navigate the uncharted waters of causality for students of statistics, economics, social sciences, mathematics and most urgently today, epidemiology.” The Michael Dukakis institute, under the umbrella of its Artificial Intelligence World Society Innovation Network (AIWS-IN) AIWS.net, is calling for artificial intelligence to be developed and deployed in ways that benefit all mankind. Professor Pearl will serve as Mentor to AIWS Innovation Network programs in support of these goals.
He added, “With your remarkable achievements in mind, I am thrilled to have you accept this important honor as the: World Leader in the Artificial Intelligence World Society for 2020. To be sure, the AIWS.net is eager to explore and apply your Causal Models to the decision-making process by national governments as well as individual citizens.”
In accepting the award, Prof. Pearl said, “I believe we are kindred spirits in our pursuit of a world where we all share in the concern for our fellow citizens. I also believe the Boston Global Forum; the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation and the AIWS-IN are playing a vital role in helping to inspire leading thinkers and scholars from around the world.”
The AIWS-IN focusses on the ethical, moral, concepts, models, and legal underpinnings of Artificial Intelligence developments at the cusp of the AI Age and plays a pivotal role in bringing together
distinguishes thinkers on the subject. Cofounder of the Michael Dukakis Institute, and AIWS-IN creator Mr. Tuan Nguyen said, “As we enter the age of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning we must ask: will machines that think humans, perhaps with human emotions, create a better life for us, or will AI take us to a dystopian world of economic upheaval and social unrest. Given the promise and peril of AI, we are seeking a broad base of ideas for a Social Contract for AI Age that will foster, safety, security and sustainability in the AI Age, something Professor Pearl can help us achieve.”
Founded in 2012, The Boston Global Forum (BGF) is a not-for-profit think tank based in Boston, Massachusetts. Our mission is to bring together, in an open and accessible public forum, an eclectic and engaging spectrum of esteemed academic leaders, real-world experts, thought leaders, media experts and promising young leaders, who are dedicated to seeking peaceful solutions to the most contentious issues of our times.
As an offshoot of The Boston Global Forum, The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation (MDI) 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.
Further details are available by contacting Mr. Tuan Anh Nguyen, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of the Boston Global Forum, and Director of the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation.
Thank you to the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid and Boston Global Forum for inviting me to deliver some introductory remarks to this timely and important event on the theme – Transatlantic Approaches on Digital Governance: A New Social Contract in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
I’m speaking to you from my home city of Melbourne, where more than 5 million people are living under a strict lockdown as we grapple with an outbreak of the COVID-19 infection.
At the moment we have a 9pm to 5am curfew.
We cannot go outdoors for more than one hour a day to exercise, one trip to do essential shopping, nor can we travel more than 5 kilometers from our homes.
Nearly all businesses and community facilities are closed.
I know many of you have had similar experiences in your home cities over the course of this extraordinary year.
The impact of this global pandemic has been felt by all of us, and all of our lives have been changed by it.
We have learned some very important lessons this year.
We have learned that community still matters.
We have learned that solidarity still matters.
We have learned, or been reminded, that individual freedom has to be balanced against the common good.
We have learned that government still matters, and that competent government matters a great deal.
We have learned that transparency is better than concealment.
We have learned to value our health-care workers, and that cutting spending on public health is a false economy.
Most of all, we have learned that facts matter; that truth matters; that accurate and timely information matters.
More concretely, we have learned that science matters.
Science holds the key to understanding the multiple challenges posed by COVID-19, to responding effectively to those challenges – and ultimately – to defeating COVID-19 and saving the lives of millions of people.
That’s why it’s so timely that you are meeting – thanks to the wonders of contact-free global conversation – to discuss the role of science and technology in responding to the challenges of our century, of which the COVID-19 pandemic will not be the last.
We have had transnational and even global pandemics before.
We had plague, smallpox and cholera.
A hundred years ago we had the so-called Spanish Flu.
Nearly forty years ago we saw the advent of HIV/AIDS.
But while this is not the first global pandemic, it is the first pandemic in a globalised world.
It is the first pandemic in the era of the smartphone, of social media, of instantaneous global information and disinformation.
When Mark Twain wrote that “a lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots” he could not have known how true that would be in the year 2020.
Perhaps the most important challenge we face is how to prevent the wonderful technologies we now possess being misused; being put at the service of lies and propaganda and the promotion of hate-filled conspiracy theories.
The pandemic will elicit an examination of the social contract – what is the volonté générale, or the mens una, or have the inputs for utilitarian outcomes shifted?
We may need to examine whether the freedoms and rights that the citizenry of a western liberal democracy has traditionally enjoyed and that have been given up by the citizenry during the last few months will be altered, and whether there will be a ceding of those rights and freedoms to governments, given the course of this pandemic and the fact that no society can guarantee that we can be free of another wave, or indeed, another pandemic.
And in this century we may also face an examination of innate human morality and the foundation that that provides in a society, balanced against an artificial intelligence.
But the post-COVID world will not be the pre-COVID world.
We can never go back to life as it was in 2019, as individuals, as communities or as nations.
The challenge facing all of us, as leaders, as legislators, as policy-makers, as shapers of public opinion, is to see that all these lessons are learned, that truth prevails over propaganda and science over mythology.
Science has given us the technology we need to defeat not only COVID-19, but all of the multiple challenges we face.
What we need now is the political will to use it effectively.
Thank you, and all the best for your discussion over the next two days.
Democratic former Heads of State and Government, Members of Club de Madrid, current Government representatives, experts and renowned scholars will analyse global challenges and offer actionable policy solutions at a transatlantic and multi-stakeholder Policy Lab on the Social Contract for the AIAge, a new social contract on digital technologies and artificial intelligence
Madrid, 10 September 2020. In the midst of the current COVID-19 global health emergency, has impacted all spheres of life, humanity has turned to digital technologies and artificial intelligence to face impending challenges. From remote working to financial services and medical equipment, the extent to which we now depend on technology is increasing at a staggering rate. Hospitals are using robots to disinfect rooms, governments have become reliant on complex databases to curb the virus’ spread, and programmers have designed phone apps from which we can remotely control outbreaks. Under the present circumstances, technology seems to be an ally rather than a foe. Still, increasing concern from governments, academics and civil society that this technological transformation may be outpacing policy, must not be overlooked.
To debate these challenges, this forthcoming Policy Lab will convene over 10 former democratic Heads of State and Government (all Members of Club de Madrid) Manuel Muñiz, Secretary of State for Global Spain, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain, as well as world class experts like computer scientist and father of the Internet, Vint Cerf, chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, MIT Professor Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland, Governor Michael Dukakis, Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States (1988), professors of Harvard, MIT, and top universities. Together, participants will lend their experience-based critical judgement to pioneering discussions which seek, among other priorities, to identify ways of engaging different sectors of society in grounding policymaking while protecting the democratic mandate.
Safeguarding citizen rights has become imperative since technology grants substantial power to those who control it. For instance, the technology being used to track citizen movements could potentially pose a violation of privacy rights if misused or left at the hands of non-democratic governments. New communication channels have also been contributing to the rapid spread of fake news about COVID-19, which has generated disinformation and increased confusion.
All in all, the rapid rollout of digital technologies and AI beyond the control of states poses a global challenge never seen before, which is why we should not set global, regional and national standards of digital governance without the participation of all societal actors. In this sense, debates from this Policy Lab on “TheSocial Contract for the AI Age”, the first social contract in the digital, Internet and AI era, a platform for connection among governments, stakeholders, and private and public institutions, and for balancing centers of power, initiated by the Boston Global Forum, will pay particular attention to insights presented by government representatives, academic institutions, think tanks, tech companies and civil society.
By comparing American and European approaches in the creation of a new social contract on digitalisation, with the foresight of former democratic presidents and prime ministers, this discussion will generate a space to encourage and strengthen transatlantic cooperation around digital governance, in the framework of much needed multilateral reforms and urgent global responses to global challenges like the COVID-19 crisis. The dialogue will also serve as a platform to establish a Transatlantic Alliance for Digital Governance and the AIWS City, an all-digital virtual city based on the standards and norms of “the Social Contract for the AI Age”, “People Centered Economy”, “Trustworthy Economy” and “Intellectual Society”. Lastly, the policy discussion aims to discuss the creation of an initiative to monitor governments as well as companies in using AI and to generate an AI Ethics Index at all levels.
REGISTRATION AND FURTHER INFORMATION
Join us in this Policy Lab “Transatlantic Approaches to Digital Governance: A New Social Contract in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” to be held between 16-18 September.
World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid (WLA-CdM) is the largest assembly of political leaders working to strengthen democratic values, good governance and the well-being of citizens across the globe. As a non-profit, non-partisan, international organization, its network is composed of more than 100 democratic former Presidents and Prime Ministers from over 70 countries, together with a global body of advisors and expert practitioners, who offer their voice and agency on a pro bono basis, to today’s political, civil society leaders and policymakers. WLA-CdM responds to a growing demand for trusted advice in addressing the challenges involved in achieving ‘democracy that delivers’, building bridges, bringing down silos and promoting dialogue for the design of better policies for all. This alliance, providing the experience, access and convening power of its Members, represents an independent effort towards sustainable development, inclusion and peace, not bound by the interest or pressures of institutions and governments.
In 2019 the WLA-CdM launched a ‘Call to Action’ to promote a democratic approach to Digital Transformation and the Future of Democracy, developed during its 2019 Annual Policy Dialogue, whereby it invites world leaders to take proactive action to frame the development of digital technologies in an inclusive, fair and rights-based legal, political and social framework.
The Boston Global Forum (BGF) is a not-for-profit think tank based in Boston, Massachusetts. Its mission is to bring together, in an open and accessible public forum, an eclectic and engaging spectrum of esteemed academic leaders, real-world experts, thought leaders, media experts and promising young leaders, who are dedicated to seeking peaceful solutions to the most contentious issues of our times. An offshoot of The Boston Global Forum, The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation (MDI) was born in 2015. Its mission is to generate ideas, create solutions, and deploy initiatives to solve global issues, especially initiatives in Cybersecurity and AI World Society Innovation Network (AIWS-IN)
The Artificial Intelligence World Society (AIWS) is a set of values, ideas, concepts and protocols for standards and norms whose goal is to advance the peaceful development of AI to improve the quality of life for all humanity. It was conceived by the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation (MDI) and established on November 22, 2017. Read more here.
CONTACT
Further details of WLA-CdM are available by contacting Agustina Briano, Outreach and Development Coordinator of WLA-CdM: [email protected]
Further details of BGF and AIWS are available by contacting Tuan Anh Nguyen, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Boston Global Forum, and Director of The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation: [email protected]
For press credentials please contact Dick Pirozzolo: [email protected] / +16179594613
For press inquiries and/or interview requests of WLA-CdM Members, please reach Alejandro Hita, Communications Manager of WLA-CdM: [email protected] / +34607694354
