An AI advisory board to the United Nations (UN) has unveiled seven key recommendations to bridge gaps in AI governance and promote the safe development of AI systems.
Last year, the United Nations formed a 39-member advisory body to tackle pressing issues surrounding the global governance of AI. Their recommendations will be a key focus at the upcoming U.N. summit this September.
The advisory group has proposed the creation of a dedicated panel to offer impartial and trustworthy scientific insights into AI, aiming to bridge the information gap between AI labs and the wider global community.
With the rapid adoption of AI technology, there are growing concerns about its role in spreading misinformation, fake news and infringing on copyrighted content.
The European Union has already taken the lead by enacting a comprehensive AI Act, setting a benchmark for other regions. However, the U.N. warns that with AI development dominated by a few multinational corporations, there is a significant risk that this technology could be imposed on the public without adequate input on its usage.
The advisory body also recommends initiating a new policy dialogue on AI governance, establishing an AI standards exchange, and creating a global AI capacity development network to enhance governance capabilities.
Jay Limburn, CPO at Ataccama, said: “Bridging gaps in AI governance is a welcome sight from the UN as there has generally been limited progress in the development of AI safeguards, aside from the EU AI Act, since last year’s Safety Summit. While it’s important to mitigate the risks that AI poses, there should be a measured approach to regulation to avoid stifling innovation, so a clear governance structure to oversee the development and use cases of AI is an important step.
“Responsible AI is underpinned by data quality, feeding in higher-quality inputs into AI models that result in more trustworthy outcomes that provide actionable insights. As part of the data governance structure, there should be an emphasis on ensuring organisations work with clean, consolidated data to improve efficiency and accuracy while mitigating risks of poor outputs. In a global sphere of investment and innovation, it’s important not to overregulate, but to put in place guidelines for AI, safety testing measures, and governance infrastructure to aid AI model development.”
Among other key proposals, the U.N. advocates for the creation of a global AI fund to address collaboration and capacity gaps, along with a global AI data framework to ensure transparency and accountability.
Libero Raspa, Director of adesso UK, commented: “Governing AI’s development is important to guide how businesses are developing and adopting AI systems, but it is vital that we don’t overregulate to the point it stifles potentially ground-breaking technology solutions. AI is a driving force for global innovation, accelerating automation projects and boosting efficiencies to provide a competitive advantage. Therefore, regulators should work closely with business partners and AI experts that have already proved AI concepts, instilling confidence in AI adoption and addressing the multitude of questions around new solutions while minimising risks.”
