The United Nations Systems consists of the international organization of United Nations, funds and programmes, specialized agencies, regional commissions, United Nations research and training institutes, jointly financed bodies, related organizations and other entities.
AI for Good
In 2017, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – a specialized agency of the UN – established a platform on AI in form of series of global summits called AI for Good.
There are five specialized groups working within this platform, each of them producing own outputs:
- ITU-T Focus Group on “Artificial Intelligence for Health” (FG-AI4H)
- ITU-T Focus Group Machine Learning for Future Networks including 5G (FG-ML5G)
- ITU-T Focus Group on AI for autonomous and assisted driving (FG-AI4AD)
- ITU-T Focus Group on “Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies” (FG-AI4EE)
- AI and Data Commons
United Nations Activities on Artificial Intelligence (AI)
As a result of 2018 AI for Good Global Summit, UN agencies and bodies published an overview of how AI is used by these subjects for various purposes.
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)
In 2018, the UNCITRAL received a document submitted by the Czech Republic on legal aspects of smart contracts and artificial intelligence. In this document the Czech Republic proposed to undertake close monitoring of developments of these technologies and to consider future work in these areas.
On 6 – 7 May 2019, the UNCITRAL and the UNIDROIT organized a Joint Workshop on Legal Issues Arising from the Use of Smart Contracts, Artificial Intelligence and Distributed Ledger Technology. The particular topics that were discussed can be found here.
United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI)
The UNICRI launched the Centre on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in The Hague, Netherlands. Among others, the Centre cooperates for instance with INTERPOL (INTERPOL – UNICRI Global Meetings). In 2019, both organizations published a joint report Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Law Enforcement.
United Nations University
The Centre for Policy Research at the United Nations University regularly publishes opinions on AI and global governance. Related posts can be found here.