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The United Nations is hosting a worldwide summit this week to try to map out the boundaries of artificial intelligence and harness its promise for uplifting mankind.
The UN intends to put out a clear framework for dealing with AI as the technology's growth outpaces its ability to establish restrictions.
The "AI for Good Global Summit," which will take place in Geneva on Thursday and Friday, will bring together some 3,000 professionals from corporations such as Microsoft and Amazon, as well as universities and international organisations, to try to create frameworks for dealing with AI.
"This technology is moving fast," said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, chief of the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations' information and communications technology organisation that hosted the meeting.
"It's a real opportunity for the world's leading AI voices to come together on a global stage and address governance issues," she told reporters.
"It is not an option to do nothing." It is essential to humanity. As a result, we must engage and work to secure a responsible future with AI."
She stated that the conference would look into potential frameworks and safeguards to enable safe AI use.
Amazon's chief technology officer Werner Vogels, Google DeepMind chief operational officer Lila Ibrahim, and former Spain football captain Iker Casillas – who suffered a heart attack in 2019 and now pushes for AI application in heart attack prevention – are among the attendees.
They will be accompanied by dozens of robots, including many humanoids such as Ai-Da, the world's most advanced life-like robot; Ameca, the world's most advanced life-like robot; Desdemona, the humanoid rock singer; and Grace, the most sophisticated healthcare robot.
Helping humanity?
The ITU, situated in Geneva, believes it can contribute to AI governance.
The ITU is the UN's oldest institution, having been founded in 1865. In 1906, it invented "SOS" as the Morse code international marine distress signal, and it manages everything from radio frequencies to satellites and 5G networks.
The summit aims to discover methods to use artificial intelligence to progress the UN's lagging sustainable development goals in areas such as health, climate, poverty, hunger, and clean water.
According to Bogdan-Martin, artificial intelligence must not increase societal disparities or add prejudices based on race, gender, politics, culture, religion, or income.
"This summit can help ensure that AI charts the course that benefits humanity," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
However, while proponents of AI applaud the technology for its potential to revolutionise society, including labour, healthcare, and creative endeavours, others are concerned about its potential to harm democracy.
'Perfect storm,' they say.
"We're kind of in a perfect storm of suddenly having this powerful new technology -- I don't think it's super-intelligent -- being spread very widely and empowered in our lives, and we're really not prepared," says serial AI entrepreneur Gary Marcus.
"We're at a critical juncture in history where we can either get it right and build the global governance we need, or we can get it wrong and fail and end up in a bad place where a few companies control the fates of many, many people without adequate forethought," he added.
Last month, EU legislators moved the bloc closer to enacting one of the world's first regulations governing systems such as OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot. In the United States, there is also a rising call to regulate AI.
Since its inception late last year, ChatGPT has become a global phenomenon for its capacity to generate human-like material such as essays, poetry, and discussions from basic cues.
It has resulted in a proliferation of generative AI material, leaving regulators rushing to figure out how to govern such bots.
The Microsoft AI For Good Lab's principal data scientist, Juan Lavista Ferres, provided an example of how AI may be used "to make our world a better place."
He compared the more than 400 million individuals who have diabetes, which is a leading cause of blindness, to the modest number of ophthalmologists.
"Diagnosing every patient is physically impossible." Nonetheless, we and others have developed AI models that can now diagnose this problem with the accuracy of a very excellent ophthalmologist. This is something that can be done with a smartphone.
"In this case, AI is not just a solution; it is the only solution."