(Jamaica Gleaner) More than 50 presenters and experts from across the globe are expected to join in discussion on a range of topics focusing on whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an existential threat or tool for scaling over human limitations.
The meet to mark International Day for Universal Access to Information, Thursday, September 28, will be the 4th Artificial Intelligence for Information Accessibility (AI4IA) Online Conference. The discussions will also include the new rules of AI and how to secure open, inclusive, knowledge societies, a release to the media notes.
The one-day conference will be hosted by the UNESCO Information For All (IFAP) Working Group on Information Accessibility (WGIA)
Jamaican speakers will include Dr Dana Morris Dixon, minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with oversight for skills and digital transformation; Cordel Green, attorney-at-law, executive director of the Broadcasting Commission, member of the National Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and chairman of the UNESCO Information For All (IFAP) Working Group on Information Accessibility (WGIA); and award-winning journalist and attorney-at-law Dionne Jackson Miller.
Speaking on the primary aim of the conference, Cordel Green said: “It will be to make the risks and opportunities of AI more understandable and relatable to the widest cross section of people. The presenters will look at such topics as AI and Participatory Democracy; AI and War; AI and the Environment; Convergence of AI and Neuro-technology; AI and Law; Implications of Large Language Models; Gendered perspectives on AI; Culture, Indigenous Societies, and Data Sovereignty; Data Scraping and Exploitation; Digital Rights of Children; Use of AI to Overcome Disabilities and Deliver Access; AI and Longtermism; AI and Health; Intersection of AI, Art, and Human Creativity; and Governance of AI, including tensions around the concepts of Freedom of Expression and Information Accessibility.”
The international speakers include Dr Isabela Ferrari, Brazilian federal judge; Emile P. Torres, philosopher, historian, and author of Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation; Professor Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem, chair of the Southern African Conference on AI Research, chairperson of the UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group that prepared the draft of the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI and rapporteur for the UNESCO Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST); Vin Rock, founding member of the Grammy award-winning American Hip Hop trio Naughty by Nature; and Singaporean high school student Winston NG, who is co-founder and CEO of a metaverse technology company that develops immersive virtual experiences.
There will also be a number of UNESCO officials presenting, in addition to pioneers in the digital space from the Caribbean, Africa, the UK, China, India, Brazil, and the USA, among other countries.
The AI4IA conference will be free to all, but registration is required at: https://us01.z.antigena.com/l/AgQ4Oxsm8kM2eTnx_IbQ~eoh2MoDHVIW4HhObc0f5B…
The Live Opening Session via Zoom is set for Thursday, September 28, from 1 p.m. to 2:35 p.m. (GMT). However, on-demand pre-conference viewing of videos are available on the Gather.Town platform all day on September 26, 27, and 28. Live interactive Sessions (Gather.Town) will take place on September 28 from 8:00 a.m. -10:00 a.m. (GMT) and 16:00 -18:00 (GMT).
Conference partners are UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean; UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa; University of Alberta; the Observer Research Foundation, India; The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute; and the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica.
