On 26 October 2023, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General (SG) António Guterres revealed the formation of a 39-member High-Level Multistakeholder Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in New York, the United States of America (USA).
- The list featured 3 Indian technology experts namely Amandeep Singh Gill, UN SG’s Envoy on Technology(since 2022); Nazneen Rajani, Lead Researcher at Hugging Face; and Sharad Sharma, Co-founder of iSPIRT Foundation.
- The Board will support the international community’s efforts to govern AI and its members’ list comprises experts from the government, private sector, research community, civil society, and academia.
About New AI Advisory Board:
i.The AI Advisory Body aims to
- address critical issues concerning AI on a global scale.
- establish a global scientific consensus on AI risks and promote AI for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
ii.Emphasising inclusivity, the UN will leverage its unique convening power as a universal and inclusive forum on critical challenges.
iii.It will help bridge other existing and emerging initiatives on AI governance and issue preliminary recommendations by the end of 2023, with final recommendations by summer 2024, ahead of the Summit of the Future.
Click here for the Full List of members of the new AI Advisory Board.
About Amandeep Singh Gill:
i.Before his current role, he served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the International Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) project, based in Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva (Switzerland).
ii.He also served as the Executive Director and Co-Lead of the UN’s SG’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation from 2018-2019.
iii.He served as India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva from 2016-2018.
About Nazneen Rajani:
i.Serving as the Research Lead, she specialise in AI Safety and Alignment, notably utilising Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF).
ii.She is recognized as an expert and thought leader in Large Language Models (LLMs) robustness and evaluation.
About Sharad Sharma:
i.He co-founded iSPIRT Foundation, a non-profit technology think tank that has conceptualised India Stack, Health Stack, and other digital public goods.
ii.He was also the co-founder of Teltier Technologies, a wireless infrastructure startup now part of CISCO.
iii.He was also instrumental in the success of India’s first IP-focused fund, the India Innovation Fund.
iv.He is a member of the National Startup Advisory Council, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)’s Financial and Regulatory Technology Committee.
v.He Chairs the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA)’s Expert Committee on Asset Tokenization and the Taskforce on the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in the ThinkTank20 (T20) Group of Twenty (G20).
Role of the Advisory Body:
i.The Advisory Body operates independently, guided by UN Charter values, and emphasizes inclusivity in its approach.
ii.With time sensitivity in mind, it aims to deliver preliminary recommendations in AI governance, risk assessment, and leveraging AI for SDGs.
iii.Its recommendations will contribute to the negotiations surrounding the proposed Global Digital Compact, aligning with preparations for the upcoming Summit of the Future.
iv.Gender-balanced and diverse across regions and generations, the members representing various sectors will bring multifaceted insights to the initiative.
Recent related News:
On 22nd August 2023, Former President of India, Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated India’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) School at Santhigiri Vidyabhavan in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
About United Nations (UN):
Secretary-General– António Guterres
Headquarters– New York City, United States of America (USA)
Established on– 24 October 1945.
