Fudan University, a leading university based in Shanghai, announced that a United Nations-promoted global network aimed at strengthening artificial intelligence capacity building and bridging the AI gap was established in Geneva on Sunday.
President Jin Li, director of the Center for Global AI Innovative Governance, was present at the ceremony.
The first global dialogue on AI governance took place July 6-7 in Geneva, bringing together stakeholders to discuss accountability, human oversight, and the future of AI governance.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized the need for governance to keep pace with technology and called on AI companies to disclose the resource footprints of their systems and commit to using renewable energy across all data centers by 2030.
Governments were urged to develop global rules to reduce AI risks and environmental impact and to ensure AI is accessible to all.
The International Telecommunication Union described the event as a unique opportunity to shape AI as a global force for good.
UN Women’s global study highlights the need for inclusive artificial intelligence (AI).
A UN Women's study found that inclusive practices in AI-driven advertising can enhance business profit, sales, and brand value.
It also revealed that women outside the AI sector are nearly twice as likely as men to hold jobs at high risk of automation.
Underrepresented communities in media and labor markets face the highest risk of further marginalization.
Women comprise only about 30 percent of the global AI workforce.
UN Women notes that AI bias is both a systems design and a policy issue.
Of 138 countries assessed, only 24 referenced gender in their national AI strategies, and just 18 included substantive gender-responsive measures.
Interesting Engineering, an online community focused on engineering, technology and science, noted the warnings of the UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva.
"A technology that can reshape economies, transform the world of work, sway elections and tilt the balance of security is being deployed faster than anyone, including the people building it, can keep up," Guterres told delegates. "Innovation needs guardrails. If AI is to be powerful, it must be governed."
Guterres called for an AI Child Safety Pledge requiring companies to prove their systems are safe before making them accessible to children, citing examples of minors being steered toward self-harm and deceived by machines posing as friends.
"We do not let medicine reach a child until it is proven safe. We test every toy. Yet AI has reached our children before anyone asked what it would do to them," he said.
He also flagged the concentration of AI power: the US accounts for 75% of computing power among the world's top 500 AI supercomputers, China 15%.
A panel of 40 independent scientists presented findings from the first global scientific assessment of AI at the two-day dialogue, which aims to shape future governance frameworks rather than forge a binding treaty.
A second global meeting is planned for New York next year.