The Greater Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) recently concluded its first summit on the 4th of December. The GPAI, formed as an international and multi-stakeholder initiative, was established in 2020 with an aim to promote responsible development as well as use of AI.
Initiated by France and Germany, the group now includes multiple countries across the world, including India. The first summit, held in Canada, had several sessions, including the reports on the five working groups who published the work they had done in the past couple and announced their long term vision.
Apart from that, Presidents of France, Emmanual Macron and the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry for Canada, Navdeep Bains, also spoke at the event.
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Here, we are jotting down some interesting statements made at GPAI’s first summit, in 2020.
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
“We have the technology to fight diseases, to address climate change, and to better deliver humanitarian aid. In other words, we have the technology to shape the world for the better. Let’s not forget though; positive change just doesn’t happen by itself, we have to choose it.”
“If innovation has the ability to solve problems when used right, it also has the potential to create new challenges when left unchecked.”
“What we see now with the world coming together on AI is demonstrating a global community respond to some of the most pressing issues of our time even as we are responding to the greatest challenge of our time around COVID.”
“Citizens around the world are being increasingly impacted by AI and the desire of like-minded companies, countries and scientists to come together to figure out the rules that are going to keep Canadians and all citizens protected is really exciting.”
Emmanuel Macron, President of France
“Mastery of artificial intelligence requires progress on two fronts: innovation and assurance. They are inseparable and cannot function without each other.”
“Technology has been a powerful driving force of human progress, and I sincerely wish that AI would enable us to progress in all the domains, particularly to overcome the challenges in healthcare and environmental sectors.”
“Every day, we see clear proof of how technological progress can provoke a setback on our fundamental liberties and rights in our everyday life. Without the appropriate safeguards, technology can weaken democracy and threaten the universal values enshrined by the UN.”
“With this partnership, we intend to build a digital world that would be fair, transparent, and inclusive that is open to diversity and that must not replicate everything and must not create new biases, new exclusions, and threats on fundamental freedoms and universal values.”
Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Canada
“AI represents one of the most impactful and transformative technologies in the world today. The work stemming from this event will be instrumental in shaping the approach to adopting and governing this technology in a responsible manner.”
“I firmly believe that in order for these (technological) changes to achieve the maximum global benefit, AI innovation and growth need to be harnessed by the values of human rights, inclusion, and diversity.”
“We do all this (bring more algorithmic transparency) because we know that if we don’t support the transformation that AI promises to bring, in a transparent, inclusive, and collaborative way there will be no public trust to support the adoption of beneficial and potentially life-changing applications.”
Joanna Shields, Co-chair, GPAI Steering Committee
“We must ensure that the AI we are building is magnanimous, not malevolent. That bias is kept in check and that the future serves us all equally.”
“The work we are doing at the Global Partnership for AI truly matters. Doing it properly, getting on the front foot, embedding the frameworks, the standards and the principles as we go. And putting humanity at the centre of our thinking.”
“We must continue to build partnerships with more experts and governments, and harness the flourishing network of the global AI community to solve society’s biggest challenges like climate change, food insecurity, economic inequality and poor health and education outcomes.”
Jordan Zed, GPAI Council President
“We need to understand that there has to be, in some ways, a spirit of experimentation with which we are approaching this. It might not be the case that every use case or every project yields the kind of outcome that we think, and that’s okay. I think we need to create that safe space for us collectively to try out how we wish to approach a particular topic.”
“I want to be frank and open that we have a lot of work ahead of us. There are key opportunities around ensuring inclusion and diversity in the approaches that we take, getting the details right, ensuring we have the governance to sustain ourselves, and that we are drawing on expertise even beyond GPAI membership.”
