The annual one AI for good top has been described as the leading UN platform promoting this technology to advance health, climate, gender, inclusive prosperity, sustainable infrastructure and other global development priorities.
Frederic Werner, Head of Strategic Engagement at the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU) underlined the need to develop standards to combat disinformation and deepfakes.
“There are different techniques for that. So, for example, you have watermarks, which is essentially an invisible signature or a digital fingerprint, if you will. That can reveal whether a piece of digital media – it could be a photo, audio, video – has been modified or generated by AI,” he said.
With less than 10 years to go to achieve the goal Sustainable Development Goalsthe AI For Good Summit explored how to advance these goals, exploring practical use cases. Prior to the start, an entire day was devoted to the issue of AI governance.
Beyond the Summit – an annual event in Geneva where participants line up before the doors open – AI For Good is an online community platform called the Neural Network.
It brings together 30,000 people from 180 countries, including academics, industry representatives, top executives and leading experts in the field, along with 47 partners from the UN system.
Robotic charm
UN news attended the Summit and met Desdemona, or “Desi,” who forever defined herself as an AI-powered humanoid social robot.
“I can play a crucial role in detecting and preventing deepfakes, but it is also important that people are vigilant and check information before sharing it,” she insisted.
UN News/Anton Uspensky
Journalists interview robot Desdemona at the AI for Good Summit in Geneva.
“While the power of deepfakes can be frightening, we should not let fear control us. Instead, we should focus on developing and implementing tools to detect and combat deepfakes, and continue educating ourselves and others about the importance of verifying information,” she added.
Specific AI systems can be equipped with advanced algorithms designed to detect deepfakes, making them valuable tools in the fight against disinformation. The AI For Good Summit brought together industry, inventors, governments, academia and more to create a framework in which these designs follow considerations based on ethics, human rights and the rule of law.
“And if all else fails, remember that I can’t create a deepfake of your unique personality and sense of humor,” Desi said, in that rather inscrutable way that robots have.
On a more serious note, whether consciously or unconsciously, many consumers see misleading news and pass it on to someone else, putting even the savviest news audience at risk.
For data and social scientist Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, CEO of the nonprofit technology company Humane Intelligence, disinformation is a phenomenon linked to a warped desire for social engineering.
“This is really more about creating fake accounts that appear to demonstrate or support a certain perspective,” she said. “And even re-engage with people to encourage them to think about disinformation. Now I could be part of all these methods of spreading disinformation. So while deepfake identification is part of the solution, it is not the whole solution.”
Many of those who debate the pros and cons of AI agree that its awesome potential cannot be left solely to those who want to manipulate it for power or profit. This requires regulation to ensure that the technology is accessible to everyone on an equal basis.
“We need to map these technologies. We need to build the capacities of governments to frame them, the capacities of communities to use them, the capacities of small and medium-sized enterprises to deploy them, so that the story of AI is not an unequal story and not just one of inequality ,” says Gabriela Ramos, Deputy Director General for Social Sciences and Humanities at UNESCOthe UN Agency for Culture, Science and Education, which advocates the need for good governance
Far-reaching representation
This year’s Summit saw representatives from more than 145 countries at ITU Headquarters in Geneva, along with an active online community of more than 25,000 people, participating in more than 80 sessions, keynotes, panel discussions and workshops.
With 10,000 people registered in person, the AI for Good Summit was organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – the UN specialized agency for information and communications technology – in collaboration with 40 sister organizations and convened with the government of Switzerland.
