Harvard University, Loeb House
November 22, 2022
I am pleased to announce that this year’s recipient of the Boston Global Forum’s World Leader in AI World Society Award is Amandeep Gill, the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology.
Amandeep Gill joined the India foreign service in 1992, serving with distinction in Iran, Sri Lanka, and Switzerland before being appointed Head of the Disarmament and International Security Affairs Division of India’s Ministry of External Affairs in 2013. Four years later, he was appointed India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
In 2017, Ambassador Gill helped establish India’s National Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and subsequently contributed to the drafting of UNESCO’s Al ethics guidelines.
His entry into the UN came as Executive Director of the Secretariat of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, which led to his appointment as Envoy. Upon naming him as Envoy, the UN described Ambassador Gill as “A thought leader on digital technology, [who] brings to the position a deep knowledge of digital technologies coupled with a solid understanding of how to leverage the digital transformation responsibly and inclusively for progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.”
He has brought to the position insights he has gained as the Project Director and CEO of the International Digital Health & AI Research Collaborative based at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. That initiative seeks to promote responsible AI research and accountable use of digital technology.
Ambassador Gill holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Electrical Communications, an Advanced Diploma in French History and Language, and a PhD in Nuclear Learning in Multilateral Forums from King’s College London.
Ambassador Gill embodies the commitment to the responsible use of AI and digital technology that has defined the Boston Global Forum’s work. It gives me great pleasure to be honoring him today with the Boston Global Forum’s World Leader in AI World Society Award.
