Celina Bottino, the Project Director at the Institute for Technology & Society of Rio de Janeiro (ITS Rio), presented her research on AI Governance and Policy In The Global South at the latest IEAI Speaker Series that took place on March 25, 2021. In her presentation, she explained the importance of including the Global South in the research that aims to achieve the harmonization of the global standarts of AI Governance, so that societies around the world can share the benefits of AI.
She compared several factors that determine the divide between the Global North and South when it comes to accessibility to the opportunities provided by AI enabled technologies. Connectivity is key when it comes to implement AI systems on a larger scale. The Global South is very disadvantaged in this regard, as it has a significantly lower percentage of individuals that are connected to the internet compared to the Global North. Infrastructure is another important element, many surfaces in the Global South are not covered by the necessary infrastructure that enables the wide-scale implementation of AI systems, which determines the inequality to access the benefit of AI enabled technologies.
In her presentation, she explained the importance that education plays in the research of AI Ethics. Universities have a fundamental role in researching around the ethical implementation of AI, where the monitoring of fairness and accuracy of AI systems can be conducted between academic researchers and stakeholders. In conclusion, she explained that the debate on AI needs creative solutions to complex problems that can be achieved through multi-stakeholders dialogue and the inclusion of perspectives coming from both the Global South and North.
We also had the pleasure to talk to Celina Bottino on the IEAI Q&A: Reflections on AI. We would like to thank Celina Bottino for her fascinating presentation.
