E-Business
Unesco Member States Adopt Global Artificial Intelligence Ethics
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) member states have adopted the first global agreement on the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI).
The endorsement comes three years after the ambitious project to give the world an ethical framework for the use of AI was initiated by Audrey Azoulay, director-general of Unesco.
The organisation commissioned 24 renowned specialists with multi-disciplinary expertise on the ethics of AI, tasked with producing a draft Unesco recommendation that takes into account the wide-ranging impacts of AI, including on the environment and the needs of the global south.
The draft document was then placed online for a public consultation process, giving people around the world the opportunity to participate, leading to the adoption yesterday.
According to Unesco, the need for the agreement was motivated by unprecedented global challenges brought about by the use of AI technologies.
“We see increased gender and ethnic bias, significant threats to privacy, dignity and agency, dangers of mass surveillance, and increased use of unreliable AI technologies in law enforcement, to name a few. Until now, there were no universal standards to provide an answer to these issues.”
The organisation says these challenges led to the adoption of the global agreement yesterday by its 193 member states, which includes South Africa.
Among the key issues in the agreement are recommendations on protecting personal data, banning social scoring and mass surveillance, and protecting the environment.
On protecting data, the agreement calls for action “beyond what tech firms and governments are doing to guarantee individuals and more protection by ensuring transparency, agency and control over their personal data”.
It includes actions to improve data protection and an individual’s knowledge of, and right to control, their own data. It also increases the ability of regulatory bodies around the world to enforce this.
Further, the agreement bans the use of AI technologies in mass surveillance.
Unesco says: “The recommendation explicitly bans the use of AI systems for social scoring and mass surveillance. These types of technologies are very invasive, they infringe on human rights and fundamental freedoms, and they are used in a broad way.
“The recommendation stresses that when developing regulatory frameworks, member states should consider that ultimate responsibility and accountability must always lie with humans and that AI technologies should not be given legal personality themselves.”
Further, member states agreed: “AI actors should favour data-, energy- and resource-efficient AI methods that will help ensure AI becomes a more prominent tool in the fight against climate change and on tackling environmental issues.”
In addition, members recommended governments assess the direct and indirect environmental impact throughout the AI system lifecycle.
This, Unesco says, includes carbon footprint, energy consumption and the environmental impact of raw material extraction for supporting the manufacturing of AI technologies.
“Decisions impacting millions of people should be fair, transparent and contestable. These new technologies must help us address the major challenges in our world today, such as increased inequalities and the environmental crisis, and not deepen them,” says Gabriela Ramos, Unesco assistant director-general for social and human sciences.
“The world needs rules for artificial intelligence to benefit humanity,” notes Azoulay. “The recommendation on the ethics of AI is a major answer. It sets the first global normative framework, while giving states the responsibility to apply it at their level.
“Unesco will support its 193 member states in its implementation and ask them to report regularly on their progress and practices.”
Gartner predicts that by 2028, 75 percent of enterprise software engineers will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) code assistants, up from less than 10 percent, currently.
According to a Gartner poll of 598 global respondents conducted in the third quarter of 2023, 63 percent of organisations are now testing, deploying, or have previously implemented AI code assistants.
AI code assistants provide for more capabilities than only code development and completion, notes the research firm.
According to Gartner, the use of AI code assistants can lead to higher work satisfaction and retention, resulting in lower turnover costs.
Philip Walsh, senior principal analyst at Gartner, comments: “Software engineering leaders must determine ROI and build a business case as they scale their rollouts of AI code assistants.
“However, traditional ROI frameworks steer engineering leaders toward metrics centred on cost reduction. This narrow perspective fails to capture the full value of AI code assistants.”
Gartner notes that software engineering leaders must “reframe the ROI conversation from cost reduction to value generations”.
Walsh adds: “Calculating time savings on code generation is a good place to begin building a more robust value story. To convey the full enterprise value story for AI code assistants, software engineering leaders should connect value enablers to impacts, and then analyse the overall return to the organisation.”
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said that the planned national ID card will be issued to applicants by their banks.
NIMC said it is working with the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) to deliver the cards to applicants.
“The card will be issued through the applicants’ respective banks in line with existing protocols with the issuance of the Debit/Credit cards,” the agency said at the weekend update on its official X handle.
KEY FACTS ABOUT THE PROPOSED NEW GENERAL MULTIPURPOSE NATIONAL IDENTITY CARD
- The new National ID Card is a single, convenient, and General multipurpose card (GMPC) , eliminating the need for multiple cards—not three.
- The single GMPC has multiple use cases:…
— NIMC (@nimc_ng) April 12, 2024
It said applicants need to request their cards with their NIN “through the self-service online portal, NIMC offices, or their respective banks”.
“The card will be powered by the AFRIGO card scheme, an indigenous scheme powered by NIBSS,” NIMC said.
“The card can be picked up by holders at the designated center or delivered to the applicants at the requested location at an extra cost to be borne by the applicants,” the update read.
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said that the new national Identity card, powered by AfriGo Card, is a single card with multiple services.
NIMC made the clarification against the confusion and criticisms that have trailed the AfriGo Card , touted as a National Domestic Card Scheme.
NIMC is launching the AfriGo Card, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS), and has had appointed SecureID, a Lagos headquartered company to manufacture the Card Scheme
Making clarification on the card, Kayode Adegoke, head of Corporate Communications of the NIMC, said the General multipurpose card (GMPC) will eliminate the need for multiple cards.
“The new National ID Card is a single, convenient, and General multi-purpose card (GMPC), eliminating the need for multiple cards—not three.
“The single GMPC has multiple use cases: Payments/Financial, Government intervention/services, travel, etc.
“The National Identity Management Commission is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System to deliver the payment and financial use cases.
“The card will be powered by the AFRIGO card scheme, an indigenous scheme powered by NIBSS. Applicants for the card will have to request with their NIN through the self-service online portal, NIMC offices, or their respective banks.
“The card will be issued through the applicants’ respective banks, in line with existing protocols with the issuance of the Debit/Credit cards.
“The card can be picked up by holders at the designated centre or delivered to the applicants at the requested location at an extra cost to be borne by the applicants,” he said.
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