WATCH: AI and digital transformation

Panellists at the ICEGOV 2024 Conference discussed Digital Cooperation: International Governance of Emerging Technologies and the Global Digital Compact.

Governments worldwide cannot ignore the huge potential of digital and emerging technologies and of their progressive, complex integration with unsuspected social dynamics. 

The ways their potential is harnessed, and their risks mitigated will shape the future of governance and democracy in the years to come. 

In this context, strengthened international cooperation, with the equal participation of all countries, is crucial to unlock the full potential of AI and digital transformation processes toward an inclusive, open, sustainable, fair, safe, and secure digital future for all.

 In particular, it plays an essential role in addressing a main, global challenge: the establishment of multilateral, open and trustworthy technology governance mechanisms, namely for AI-based systems and data-driven platforms. 

This session at ICEGOV 2024, addressed potential risks and opportunities for emerging, digital technologies, and identified the main challenges in their governance, with a particular focus on AI. 

It discussed how international cooperation, agile and adaptable to the rapidly changing digital landscape, can effectively support this global effort. 

The talk also provided an overview of the Global Digital Compact as a main instrument to set out objectives, principles, commitments, and actions, in the global arena, to ensure human oversight of emerging technologies for our common future.

Panel members: Professor Tshilidzi Marwala (UNU), Nisha (UNESCO), Alfred Mashini (DCDT), Mpho Matsitse (BCX) and Professor Riel Miller (WSG)

Moderator: Erika Kraemer-Mbula