Why I'm heading to UNGA

Later this month, I'll be heading to New York - alongside leaders from across government, civil society and industry - to join discussions at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) around how AI can advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals.?

The build up to this trip has brought back memories. In the early 2000s, I visited a community center in Kenya. Internet access at the time was still very limited. The center had recently received a generous donation of new computers from an overseas company, and I was so excited to see it in action.

But, when I arrived, the devices were still boxed up and stacked in a corner of the room. The company had donated the tech but didn’t provide training, so no one in the community knew how to set up, let alone use the computers. This prevented the students from getting online, learning critical digital skills, understanding the use cases of the Internet and, ultimately, delayed their participation and contributions towards the digital economy.??

This moment underscored a lesson?I've seen time and again throughout my career: tech is an enabler, not the solution. It requires human ingenuity, collaboration, and “last mile” experience of how to actually make sustainable change happen.?

This became a foundational principle that I carried into the founding of the ed tech non-profit, Team4Tech. For the benefits to fully materialize, we need to bring user's voices into the development and deployment of technology.?

I've spent the better part of three decades working at the intersection of technology and its impact on society. My own experience makes me incredibly optimistic about the potential of AI to help us address some of humanity's biggest challenges. We’ve seen how it can be used to accelerate progress in the development of malaria vaccines. Now, AI is being applied to problems in nuclear fusion, super efficient large-scale batteries and room temperature semiconductors. Any one of these breakthroughs would be transformational.

We need to keep moving fast - and we also need to be responsible both in our development ambitions and our approach to deployment. Like any powerful technology, it is precisely what makes AI so capable - its ability to learn, predict and solve seemingly intractable problems - that also brings risks. Ensuring that everyone benefits and is protected is a delicate balance.??

We spend a lot of time working with experts, researchers and civil society to ensure our technology is safe and useful. Whether it’s helping address food security, clean water, and further developments in treating disease, we are working hard to ensure that AI is used as a force for good.

There is a lot we can learn from other international institutions working at the cutting edge of science, like CERN or the IAEA. But the technologies emerging from AI will be quite unlike particle physics or nuclear technology. We therefore need a different approach.

Over the last seventy years, the UN has a track record of implementing practical solutions to global challenges. It has been able to do this because of its unique power to convene diverse voices and perspectives in service of a shared goal.

My hope is that the upcoming discussions at UNGA will carry through to the Global AI Safety Summit in November, hosted by the UK. Alongside my colleagues, I am deeply committed to building AI systems that help address some of humanity’s greatest challenges.