Transforming SDGs with Artificial Intelligence
- 1. Bangkok, Thailand / Page 1 (1) Edition: May 1, 2022 Transforming SDGs with Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence and Implications to Global Sustainable Development Substantiated by Smart Decision-Making at Today’s Transition Siripong Treetasanatavorn Sloan Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Leadership Narrative: • Artificial Intelligence (AI) differentiates choices of complex global transition as intended by U.N. sustainable development goals (SDG), primarily for the capability to improve mission-critical decision with conducive priority action, in consideration of the dynamics of policy intervention in engagement at causes of the intended structural change with forward-looking impact on the ground¹; • Computing capability and capacity that effectively help translate data and information to actionable recommendation is one, but AI's processing power that transforms today's development challenge further also substantiates sustainability strategy and governance choices with unique propositions on the premise of algorithmic learning, particularly with expectation of efficiency improvement as the number of training instances therefore decision power grow (see poverty reduction case with an algorithm for imagery analysis)²; • Effective and innovative intervention design nevertheless lies at heart of today’s crisis transition, notably in achievement of the intended mission that seeks to fulfill shared purposes with stakeholders and partners, essentially by taking into account various facets of AI's strengths and weaknesses, such as the immense predictive power given salient features represented in real-world development observation but also the availability of unbiased training dataset, considered as indispensable for the achievement of AI algorithmic command³; • SDG transformation on the premise of AI shall after all become a success once substantiating reciprocal accountability dialogs on the premise of public participation, especially in advocacy and stewardship of advanced technology and innovation that make sense of smart and collective transition, without compromising right, dignity and freedom—all in the spirit of "We the Peoples" as represented by Charter of the United Nations since its foundation in 1945⁴. References (in appearance order): 1 See greater context of the U.N. Secretary General's Strategy on New Technologies (2018) as guiding principles in this context: https://www.un.org/en/newtechnologies/ 2 See example of how to combine satellite imagery and machine learning to predict poverty (with source code and instruction) for the case of Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria and Malawi at GitHub (2020) https://github.com/nealjean/predicting-poverty 3 See discussion of AI potentials and challenges at McKinsey Quarterly (2018): https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/artificial-intelligence/the-real-world- potential-and-limitations-of-artificial-intelligence 4 See the relevance of human rights advocacy and stewardship in this context at Harvard Berkman Klein Center (2018): https://cyber.harvard.edu/publication/2018/artificial-intelligence-human-rights