Artificial Intelligence, Democracy and Governance (STG-MA-M5-ADG23)

STG-MA-M5-ADG23

Description

AI has emerged as a general-purpose, pervasive technology with and outstanding potential to contribute to future prosperity and sustainable development. Recognised by many political leaders as a key source of competitiveness and global leadership, AI (and in particular, one of its techniques known as machine learning) has seen a breath-taking development with the emergence of the Internet and the digital transformation of the economy. AI use cases are blossoming in virtually all sectors of the economy and society, from healthcare to transportation, public services, consumer products, energy, manufacturing. The potential for AI to contribute to the economy has been estimated at estimated 13-15 trillion USD contribution to the global economy by 2030, although the estimated gains are very unevenly distributed, with China and (to a lesser extent) the United States poised to reap the most substantial benefits.  

At the same time, AI is not only a general-purpose, but also a so-called “dual use” family of techniques: as such, its applications encompass both highly deserving use cases (e.g. cancer diagnostics in radiology), purely commercial use cases (e.g. recommendation engines in media), and military applications (e.g. lethal autonomous weapons). Like all dual-use technologies, AI thus brings at once great opportunities and very significant risks for both safety, human rights, and even employment, sustainability and resilience. This is increasingly the case as breakthroughs in research and innovation bring AI and related technologies to unprecedented levels of sophistication, leading to the emergence of whole new fields such as extended reality. 

Against this backdrop, there is growing awareness today on the need to develop a policy framework to enable the uptake of AI solutions and maximise their societal and economic benefits, at the same time mitigating the associated risk. This requires a rather complex mix of public and private governance, since AI is essentially a transnational phenomenon, which requires cooperation across borders between private players, public institutions and increasingly also civil society. It also requires an agile, flexible, risk-based and adaptive policy framework, able to cope with the pace of development digital technology.  

Building a resilient society in the AI age means both making the most of human-machine interaction, and establishing governance safeguards to avoid the significant risk entailed by some AI applications and uses. It also means deploying AI systems that enhance our preparedness for unforeseen events such as the COVID-19 pandemic; and contribute to tackling global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss.  

This seminar brings the students into the world of current AI research, unpacks the key ethical issues raised by this powerful family of techniques, and explores ways in which society can adapt to the age of pervasive AI, preserving resilience and progressing towards sustainability. Students are prompted with ethical problems, public policy decisions, debates over complex geo-political challenges, as well as an in-depth discussion on the interplay between public and private governance.