ITU AI for Good

Last updated
AI for Good
Begins29 May 2024
Ends31 May 2024
Location(s) Geneva
Country Switzerland
Years active7
Most recent2024
Attendance20,000 (online, 2022)
Organised by ITU-T
Website aiforgood.itu.int

AI for Good is an ongoing webinar series organized by the Standardization Bureau (ITU-T) of the International Telecommunication Union. Its self-declared mission is to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Contents

AI for Good arose from collaboration between ITU and Amir Banifatemi of IBM Watson AI XPRIZE. The inaugural AI for Good Global Summit 2017 was held in Geneva, Switzerland, and was attended by over 400. [1] In addition to the annual Global Summit [2] AI For Good also hosts regional impact events, such as through its Robotics for Good Youth Challenges, Innovation Factory and Machine Learning (ML) Hackathons, Governance Day and International AI Standards Summits.

Activity

AI for Good has supported Global Initiatives on AI and Data Commons, [3] AI for Health [4] (in partnership with WHO), on Resilience to Natural Hazards through AI Solutions [5] (former ITU/WMO/UNEP Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Natural Disaster Management (FG-AI4NDM) [6] ), AI and Multimedia authenticity standards collaboration [7] (under the World Standards Cooperation [8] ), AI for Road Safety [9] (in partnership with UNECE) and pre-standardization focus groups [10] on Artificial Intelligence Native for Telecommunication Networks (FG-AINN), [11] AI and Internet of Things (IoT) for Digital Agriculture [12] (in partnership with FAO), concluded focus groups on AI and Environmental Efficiency, [13] Machine Learning and 5G. [14]

The platform has 37,000 active contributors from more than 180 countries.[ citation needed ] AI for Good is executing a program on AI, guided by Resolution 214 [15] of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, and amplified by Resolution A/78/L.49 of the UN General Assembly. [16] The adoption of Resolution COM4/AI at WTSA-24 [17] further emphasizes ITU's mandate and AI for Good's role in establishing trusted AI.[ non-primary source needed ]

Global Summit 2024

The 2024 AI for Good Global Summit was held in Geneva on May 30 – 31. The event was attended by leaders from governments, industries, and academia, alongside 10,000 online participants. Highlights included the launch of a unified framework for AI standards by ITU, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), addressing issues like AI watermarking and deepfake detection, and a compilation of over 400 UN-led AI projects tackling all 17 SDGs. The Summit also introduced the AI for Good Impact Initiative, aiming to scale AI solutions globally and foster regional engagement through competitions, accelerators, and policy guidance. Demonstrations showcased innovations, including generative AI and mind-controlled robotic prosthetics.

Global Summit 2023

The 2023 AI for Good Global Summit took place on 6 – 7 July in Geneva. The event brought together participants, including government officials, policymakers, industry leaders, academics, scientists, technology innovators, civil society members, and representatives from the UN community. The summit received some publicity due to the large gathering of humanoid robots that occurred, including Ai-Da, Nadine Social Robot, Geminoid, and Sophia. [18]

Neural Network

In 2020 the Global Summit was an online-only event. In 2022, the summit moved to the "Neural Network" community platform. [19] Speakers included: [20]

Global Summit 2019

The third AI for Good Global Summit took place from 28 May to 31 May, and gave rise to the ITU Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Autonomous and Assisted Driving with several Day 0 workshops and VIP events having taken place on May 27. [21] Some of the speakers included:

Global Summit 2018

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom (right) and ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao (center) AI for Good Global Summit 2018 (27254117587).jpg
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom (right) and ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao (center)

The second AI for Good Global Summit took place from 15 to 17 May 2018 at the ITU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and generated 35 AI project proposals. [22] [23] [24] Speakers included: [25]

Global Summit 2017

Fei-Fei Li speaking at AI for Good 2017 Fei-Fei Li at AI for Good 2017.jpg
Fei-Fei Li speaking at AI for Good 2017

The first AI for Good Global summit took place from 7 to 9 June 2017. Speakers at the event included: [26] [27]

One of the outcomes of the 2017 Global Summit was the creation of an ITU-T Focus Group on Machine Learning for 5G.[ citation needed ]

Outcomes

Machine Learning 5G

The ITU-T Focus Group on Machine Learning for 5G Networks (FG-ML5G) was created following discussions at the 2017 AI for Good Global Summit. The FG-ML5G is produced several technology standards in this domain, including Y.3172, Y.3173, Y.3176, which were adopted by ITU-T Study Group 13. The FG-ML5G created the impetus for a new ITU-T Focus Group on Autonomous Networks, which is responsible for i.a. Y.3181.[ citation needed ]

AI for Health

The 2018 Global Summit led to the creation of the ITU-WHO Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health with the World Health Organization, which created the AI for Health Framework. [28]

Trustworthy AI

Together with ITU-T Study Group 16 and 17, AI for Good has been developing technology specifications under Trustworthy AI. Including items on homomorphic encryption, secure multi-party computation, and federated learning.

ITU Journal "ICT Discoveries"

The ITU relaunched its Journal ICT Discoveries during the 2018 Global Summit, with the first edition being a special on Artificial Intelligence. [29]

Criticism

Payal Arora criticized AI for Good for its paternalism towards the Global South. [30]

Related Research Articles

The International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is one of the three Sectors (branches) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It is responsible for coordinating standards for telecommunications and Information Communication Technology, such as X.509 for cybersecurity, Y.3172 and Y.3173 for machine learning, and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC for video compression, between its Member States, Private Sector Members, and Academia Members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Telecommunication Union</span> Specialized agency of the United Nations

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, significantly predating the UN and making it the oldest UN agency. Doreen Bogdan-Martin is the Secretary-General of ITU, the first woman to serve as its head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Wiegand</span> German electrical engineer (born 1970)

Thomas Wiegand is a German electrical engineer who substantially contributed to the creation of the H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, and H.266/VVC video coding standards. He has been elected to the German National Academy of Engineering (Acatech) and the National Academy of Science (Leopoldina).
For H.264/AVC, Wiegand was one of the chairmen of the Joint Video Team (JVT) standardization committee that created the standard and was the chief editor of the standard itself. He was also a very active technical contributor to the H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, and H.266/VVC video coding standards. Wiegand also holds a chairmanship position in the ITU-T VCEG of ITU-T Study Group 16 and previously in ISO/IEC MPEG standardization organizations. In July 2006, video coding work of the ITU-T was jointly led by Gary J. Sullivan and Wiegand for the preceding six years. It was voted as the most influential area of the standardization work of the CCITT and ITU-T in their 50-year history. Since 2018, Wiegand has served as chair of the ITU/WHO Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health (FG-AI4H). Since 2014, Thomson Reuters named Wiegand in their list of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” as one of the most cited researchers in his field.

The ethics of artificial intelligence covers a broad range of topics within the field that are considered to have particular ethical stakes. This includes algorithmic biases, fairness, automated decision-making, accountability, privacy, and regulation. It also covers various emerging or potential future challenges such as machine ethics, lethal autonomous weapon systems, arms race dynamics, AI safety and alignment, technological unemployment, AI-enabled misinformation, how to treat certain AI systems if they have a moral status, artificial superintelligence and existential risks.

Stephen K. Ibaraki has been a teacher, an industry analyst, writer and consultant in the IT industry, and the former president of the Canadian Information Processing Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shinjini Kundu</span> Indian American physician and computer scientist

Shinjini Kundu is an Indian American physician and computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Her research focuses on designing artificial intelligence systems to detect diseases that may be imperceptible to humans. She was named one of Forbes 30 under 30, MIT Technology Review's 35 innovators under 35, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and a winner of the Carnegie Science Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aimee Van Wynsberghe</span> AI ethics researcher

Aimee van Wynsberghe is Alexander von Humboldt professor for "Applied Ethics of Artificial Intelligence" at the University of Bonn, Germany. As founder of the Bonn Sustainable AI Lab and director of the Institute for Science and Ethics, Aimee van Wynsberghe hosts every two years the Bonn Sustainable AI Conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaesub Lee</span>

Chaesub Lee PhD is a telecommunication executive who served as the Director of ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, the permanent secretariat of the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) from 2015 until 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Y.3172</span> ITU-T recommendation

Y.3172 is an ITU-T Recommendation specifying an architecture for machine learning in future networks including 5G (IMT-2020). The architecture describes a machine learning pipeline in the context of telecommunication networks that involves the training of machine learning models, and also the deployment using methods such as containers and orchestration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITU-T Study Group 16</span> Standardization body focused on multimedia standards, such as video coding standards (e.g. MP4)

The ITU-T Study Group 16 (SG16) is a statutory group of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) concerned with multimedia coding, systems and applications, such as video coding standards. It is responsible for standardization of the "H.26x" line of video coding standards, the "T.8xx" line of image coding standards, and related technologies, as well as various collaborations with the World Health Organization, including on safe listening (H.870) accessibility of e-health (F.780.2), it is also the parent body of VCEG and various Focus Groups, such as the ITU-WHO Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health and its AI for Health Framework.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITU-WHO Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health</span>

The ITU-WHO Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health is an inter-agency collaboration between the World Health Organization and the ITU, which created a benchmarking framework to assess the accuracy of AI in health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">6G</span> 6th generation of cellular mobile communications

In telecommunications, 6G is the designation for a future technical standard of a sixth-generation technology for wireless communications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anja Kaspersen</span> Norwegian diplomat and academic

Anja Kaspersen is a director for Global Markets Development, New Frontiers and Emerging Spaces at IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organisation. Kaspersen is also a senior fellow at Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs where she co-directs the Artificial Intelligence Equality Initiative with Wendell Wallach. With scholars and thinkers in the field of technology governance, supported by Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and IEEE, Kaspersen and Wallach provided a Proposal for International governance of AI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendell Wallach</span> Bioethicist and author

Wendell Wallach is a bioethicist and author focused on the ethics and governance of emerging technologies, in particular artificial intelligence and neuroscience. He is a scholar at Yale University's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, a senior advisor to The Hastings Center, and a Carnegie/Uehiro Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, where he co-directs the "Artificial Intelligence Equality Initiative" with Anja Kaspersen. Wallach is also a fellow at the Center for Law and Innovation at the Sandra Day O'Connor School of Law at Arizona State University. He has written two books on the ethics of emerging technologies.: "Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong" (2010) and "A Dangerous Master: How to Keep Technology from Slipping Beyond Our Control" (2015). Wallach discusses his professional, personal and spiritual journey, as well as some of the biggest conundrums facing humanity at the wake of the bio/digital revolution, in this podcast published by the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (CCEIA).

William Wasswa is a Ugandan lecturer, engineer and researcher. He serves as a senior lecturer in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Uganda.

The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) is the governing conference of the ITU Standardization Sector (ITU-T), one of the three world conferences of the International Telecommunication Union, and as such, the United Nations system. The quadrennial conference decides the working methods for ITU-T for the next Study Period. It also creates the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) and the ITU-T Study Groups and elects their management teams. The Recommendations and resolutions that are approved at WTSA shape the future of ICT standardization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Y.3181</span> ITU-T Recommendation

Y.3181 is an ITU-T Recommendation specifying an Architectural framework for Machine Learning Sandbox in future networks. The standard describes the requirements and architecture for a machine learning sandbox a in future networks including IMT-2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITU-T Study Group 17</span> Standardization body focused on cyberseucirty standards, (e.g. X.509)

The ITU-T Study Group 17 (SG17) is a statutory group of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) concerned with security. The group is concerned with a broad range of security-related standardization issues such as cybersecurity, security management, security architectures and frameworks, countering spam, identity management, biometrics, protection of personally identifiable information, and the security of applications and services for the Internet of Things (IoT). It is responsible for standardization of i.a. ASN.1 and X.509, it is also the parent body of the Focus Group on Quantum Information Technology (FG-QIT). The group is currently chaired by Heung Youl Youm of South Korea.

The ITU-T Study Group 13 (SG13) is a statutory group of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) concerned with networks, infrastructure and cloud computing, including the networking aspects of mobile telecommunications. Examples include: Y.1564, Y.1731, etc.. Recent work includes a series of standards on using machine learning in networking, such as Y.3172, Y.3173, Y.3176, and Y.3181.

Trustworthy AI refers to artificial intelligence systems designed and deployed to be transparent, robust and respectful of data privacy.

References

  1. ↑ "AI for Good Global Summit 2017". ITU. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  2. ↑ "Summit 25". AI for Good. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
  3. ↑ "AI and Data Commons". ITU. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  4. ↑ "Global Initiative on AI for Health". WHO. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  5. ↑ "AI for Resilience". ITU. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  6. ↑ "AI for Natural Disaster Management (AI4NDM)". ITU. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  7. ↑ "AI for Good: Multimedia Authenticity". AI for Good. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  8. ↑ "World Standards Cooperation (WSC)". World Standards Cooperation. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  9. ↑ "AI for Road Safety". AI for Good. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  10. ↑ "AI/ML Pre-Standardization". AI for Good. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  11. ↑ "Focus Group on Autonomous Networks (AINN)". ITU. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  12. ↑ "Focus Group on AI for Autonomous and Assisted Driving (AI4AD)". ITU. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  13. ↑ "Focus Group on Environmental Efficiency for AI and other Emerging Technologies (AI4EE)". ITU. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  14. ↑ "Focus Group on Machine Learning for Future Networks including 5G (ML5G)". ITU. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  15. ↑ "ITU Resolution 214: Adoption and implementation of international standards on AI" (PDF). ITU. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  16. ↑ "United Nations Document N2406592" (PDF). United Nations. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  17. ↑ "Draft World Telecommunication/ICT Standards Assembly (WTSA) 2024 Document" (PDF). ITU. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  18. ↑ Devlin, Hannah (6 July 2023). "Never underestimate a droid: robots gather at AI for Good summit in Geneva". The Guardian . Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  19. ↑ "Press Release - Artificial intelligence turbo-charges AI for Good". ITU. Archived from the original on 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  20. ↑ "2020 Digital Programme". AI for Good Global Summit 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-11-01. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  21. ↑ "Day 1, 28 May 2019 Programme". AI for Good Global Summit. Archived from the original on 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  22. ↑ "ITU annual global summit generates 35 pioneering AI for Good proposals | OpenGovAsia". www.opengovasia.com. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  23. ↑ "An AI can now tell how malnourished a child is just from a photo | New Scientist". www.newscientist.com. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  24. ↑ ITU (2018-10-02). "Artificial Intelligence for Health: ITU and WHO call for proposals". ITU News. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  25. ↑ "Meet the Experts". www.itu.int. Archived from the original on 2018-12-14. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  26. ↑ "AI for Good Global Summit – Speakers". ITU. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  27. ↑ ITU. AI for Good Global Summit 2017 Report. ITU (Report). Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  28. ↑ Bradley, Simon. "AI has 'enormous' potential to transform health sector". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  29. ↑ "The impact of Artificial Intelligence". www.itu.int. Archived from the original on 2019-05-24. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  30. ↑ Arora, Payal (2024-09-05). "When "AI for Good" Goes Wrong - What tech philanthropy must learn to combat the Global South's problems with AI". IEEE Spectrum . Retrieved 2024-09-14.
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