This year’s Policy Dialogue offers a platform for dialogue on one of the most important issues facing leadership today: Digital Transformation and the Future of Democracy. In the past twenty years, artificial intelligence and internet technologies have irrevocably changed the fabric of society and government at large. Recently, there has been much focus on the negative effects of AI and internet technologies on the social structure, such as fake news, made with algorithms to target the most suitable and insidious data collection, used to influence voting patterns. Indeed, the use of AI may pose a challenge to democracy, but, if handled correctly, it can also bring more and better democracy. As we near the third decade of this millennia and technologies continue to develop at such a rapid rate, democracies cannot afford to fall behind. The digital is now political and therefore requires a political response. In this dialogue, we will ask: How can we anticipate the fast-changing world of AI and reap the benefits while countering the risks it poses to democracies?
In order to answer this important question, three topics will be discussed and presented by leading experts in the global field of AI:
- Fundamental Rights in the Digital Age
- Data Economies and the Future of Social Contract
- Trust and Public Debate in the Disinformation Age
Multi-sectorial working groups have then been established for each of these themes with the objective of formulating policy recommendations that will be brought together as a Call for Action to be taken forward by WLA–CdM and its partners.
Professor Alex Sandy Pentland, Direcrtor of Connection Science of MIT, and Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of the Boston Global Forum, will speak about the “AI World Society Social Contract 2020 as Framework for Peace and Security in the 21st Century” on October 21, 2019.