In the Asia-Pacific region, home to nearly 60% of the world’s population, experts expect AI to have profound impacts on health, education and governance. As Southeast Asia attracts more than $30 billion in AI infrastructure investments in the first half of 2024 alone, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) forecasts that AI could increase the region’s gross domestic product by 10-18%, potentially adding the United States. $1 trillion by 2030. However, significant challenges remain. A persistent digital divide, including a gender divide, means that uneven adoption of AI risks worsening inequality in the region. Meanwhile, while generative AI is already being used to influence election outcomes around the world, the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risks Report identifies societal polarization caused by misinformation as the most serious near-term risk on a global scale. By organizing the Global Forum in Asia, UNESCO aims to ensure that these crucial issues are addressed in an open and inclusive manner.
“We must not repeat the patterns of exclusion we have seen in global debates on issues such as climate change, where voices from the Global South are too often marginalized,” said UNESCO regional director , Soohyun Kim, at the launch event in Bangkok.
UNESCO organized its first Global Forum on AI Ethics in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2022, aiming to promote international collaboration between policymakers, industrial innovators and civil society on governance ethics of AI. Alongside the second Global Forum, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the aim was to encourage governments, civil society and private sector entities to adopt the UNESCO Recommendation of November 2021 on the ethics of AI , the very first global standard on this issue.
The third UNESCO Global Forum is expected to bring together more than 800 delegates from 194 Member States in Bangkok under the theme “Ethical Governance of AI in Motion”. It will be highlight critical issues such as the impact of AI on human rights, gender equality and sustainability, and offer dynamic discussions, expert panels and strategies to align the innovation on ethics, organizers said.
