The agreement was signed in Kranj, Slovenia, during the 2nd UNESCO Global AI Forum. It requires companies to play their full role in ensuring human rights in the design, development, purchase, sale and use of AI. This is the first time that companies have engaged with the United Nations in this area.
It states that due diligence should be exercised to meet safety standards, identify adverse effects of AI and timely measures should be taken to prevent, mitigate or remedy them, in accordance with national legislation. The agreement also specifies that ex ante testing (testing before releasing a new AI system to the market) is essential. But given the rapid evolution of AI systems already on the market, this also requires the development of ex-post (post-deployment) risk assessments and mitigation practices.
UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence was the world’s first and remains its only normative framework on AI. Over the past two years, demonstrable progress has been made in implementing this framework. Today, more than 50 countries are actively participating in its implementation and multilateral cooperation has grown considerably.
Since the adoption of the Recommendation, UNESCO has also advanced collaboration with the private sector, leading to the creation of a Business Council for AI Ethics, co-chaired by Microsoft and Telefonica. The Business Council is committed to building technical capacity in ethics and AI, designing and implementing the Ethical Impact Assessment Tool mandated by the Recommendation on AI Ethics, and contribute to the development of smart regional regulations.
