UNESCO Bangkok Office is extending an invitation to interested Lao youth (aged 18-25) to engage in an important discussion on the ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

AI is permeating countless facets of life including healthcare, education, recruitment, and climate change. However, one aspect of AI, namely “ethics” transverses nearly all boundaries and has far-reaching consequences for how AI will impact the future.

To ensure that the discussion is not limited to academia or subject matter experts, given that AI may affect all parts of society, it is pertinent to address AI Ethics from a multi-stakeholder approach to ensure that a diverse range of views is taken into account. Specifically, given that young people are primary users of AI technologies and the future leaders of the world and industry, young voices should be given a platform to be heard.

On 8 August 2020, Michael Collyer, MSc Candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) at Oxford University and Visiting Researcher at Oxford Brookes University’s Institute for Ethical AI, will facilitate a discussion on UNESCO’s draft text of a Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.

This session is part of a series of global online consultations and will contribute to the first global normative instrument that will define shared values and principles, and identify concrete policy measures on the ethics of artificial intelligence.

Dr. Annette Zimmerman, political philosopher at Princeton University, incoming permanent faculty member at the University of York, and Technology & Human Rights Fellow at Harvard University, and other experts in the field will join this event and it is expected that the discussion will prove fruitful for all those that participate.

Those interested in joining must submit details through this form before 31 July. The session will be conducted in English.

For more information, please contact Undral Ganbaatar, Associate Programme Specialist for Social and Human Sciences, at u.ganbaatar@unesco.org.