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UN Human Development Report
Human Development progress declines yet AI can reignite it, says UNDP
The latest United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report posits how sustainable and equal AI progress can have a positive impact in development.
UNDP's report titled, ‘A Matter of Choice: People and Possibilities in the Age of AI’, warns that whilst global human development and inequality is increasing AI could help reverse this trend.
In its 35th edition, it is one of the United Nation’s most influential reports, as it analyses development trends by surveying three million people across more than 200 countries and territories. Co-hosted by the UN Development Programme, the European Commission, and the Belgian Government, this year’s edition focuses on artificial intelligence and its implications on human development.
The report analyzed development progress across a range of different indicators, which are known as the Human Development Index (HDI). All regions across the world stalled progress on the HDI, including health, education, and income.
Widening inequalities between rich and poor countries, and especially between low income countries in the global south - is one of the most alarming findings of the report. In fact, this is the fourth year in a row where inequality between Low HDI and Very High HDI countries continues to increase.
UNDP’s Administrator Achim Steiner remarked that these findings are a “very real threat to global progress” and if today’s slow pace becomes the new normal, the UN’s development goals to be achieved by 2030 could be delayed by decades.
The report highlights the value that AI could have in social and economic development. Half of the respondents worry that their jobs may be automated, yet 60% believe AI will positively impact employment and create new job opportunities.
UNDP’s report reveals that AI governance is essential and that we must commit to a human-centric digital transformation.
It lays out three main priorities: to build economies where people collaborate with AI rather than compete against it, to embed human agency throughout AI’s process, from design to its use, and to modernize education and health systems.
At the report’s launch, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said some of the ways which the European Commission is working on is to make AI more accessible to everyone, so citizens can participate in the AI revolution.
For instance, they are investing in AI, building 13 factories, and five giga factories to unlock 200 billion Euros in overall investment. They have formed powerful digital alliances with Latin American and Caribbean partners, and are working with Asian partners on global cybersecurity, she said.
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America Loses a Great Thinker
The (Soft) Power of Nations
We grieve the loss of a great mind, you needed not to agree with him always, but his work was influential. He was, alongside Henry Kissinger, an important figure shaping American Foreign Policy.
I interviewed Harvard University Kennedy School of Government professor and international relations scholar, Joseph Nye, in July 2021, to discuss the US-Russia Summit that took place in Geneva that Summer.
We also discussed his book, published a year before, required reading for International Relations students, as it addresses the question of moral views of US Presidents, from FDR to Trump, and its impact in foreign policy, and on the importance of having an ethical compass when defending one’s country national interests while articulating cooperation at the international level.
Watch:
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