Berkman Klein at IGF 2017

This week (December 17-21) marks the 12th annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a multistakeholder forum for policy dialogue on issues of Internet governance, held this year in Geneva, Switzerland.  As in years past, the Berkman Klein Center is pleased to be an active participant in key discussions about some of the most pressing issues of our increasingly networked world, including the ethics and governance of artificial intelligence, harmful speech online, and youth in the digital economy.

A few sessions we are particularly excited about are highlighted below:

Social Responsibility and Ethics in Artificial Intelligence

Moderated by Urs Gasser and featuring Danit Gal and others

The breakthroughs in AI will rapidly transform digital society and greatly improve labor productivity, but also will raise a host of new and difficult issues concerning e.g. employment, ethics, the digital divide, privacy, law and regulation. In consequence, there is a growing recognition that all stakeholders will need to engage in a new and difficult dialogue to ensure that AI is implemented in a manner that balances legitimate competing objectives in a manner that leaves society better off.

While engineers may share technical ideas within transnational expert networks, broader public discussions about the social consequences and potential governance of artificial intelligence have tended to be concentrated within linguistic communities and civilizations. However, many of the issues that AI raises are truly global in character, and this will become increasingly evident as AI is incorporated into the functioning of the global Internet. There is therefore a pressing need to establish a distinctively global discourse that is duly informed by the differences between Eastern and Western cultural values, business environments, economic development levels, and political, legal and regulatory systems.

Read the full session description (Related sessions on this topic took place earlier this month at the Global Festival for AI Ideas in Beijing, China.)

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Artificial Intelligence and Inclusion

Featuring Malavika Jayaram, Chinmayi Arun, Urs Gasser, and others

The policy debates about Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been predominantly dominated by organizations and actors in the Global North. There is a growing need for a more diverse perspective regarding the policy issues and consequences of AI. The developing world will be directly affected by the deployment of AI technologies and services. However, there is a lack of informed perspectives to participate in the policy debates. This roundtable is a follow up to the international event “Artificial Intelligence and Inclusion” held in Rio de Janeiro earlier this year. The discussion will focus on development of Artificial Intelligence and its impact on inclusion in different areas such as health and wellbeing, education, low-resource communities, public safety and security, employment and workplace, and entertainment, media and journalism, among others. The goal of this roundtable is to bring the debates of the this international event to the IGF community, enlarging the conversation and deepening the understanding of AI inclusion 

Read the full session description

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Selective Persecution and the Mob: Hate and Religion Online

Featuring