The Global Index on Responsible AI calls for better human rights protections

 
The Global Index on Responsible AI, the largest data collection of its kind, has confirmed that the development of increasingly powerful artificial intelligence (AI) systems are far outpacing efforts to protect human rights overall, especially those of the most vulnerable.
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The Global Index on Responsible AI is the largest global data collection on responsible AI to date and the most important to be led from the Global South. The lead investigators in South Africa worked with AI governance and ethics experts from 15 organizations and 160 researchers worldwide to unearth critical, contextual data in 138 countries on AI development.

The Global Index on Responsible AI is unique in its human-rights focus. It is the first tool to establish and assess a comprehensive and human-rights based set of measurable and globally relevant benchmarks for responsible AI, which is the design, development, deployment and governance of AI that respects and protects all human rights.

It was funded by IDRC, Global Affairs Canada and the United States Agency for International Development, with support from France, through the Paris Peace Forum. 

The preliminary report, including country rankings, can be found here.

“A key finding of the Global Index on Responsible AI is that international cooperation is essential for promoting responsible AI globally,” said Naser Faruqui, director of IDRC’s Education and Science program. “At IDRC, we are working with international development funders and Southern partners, to ensure that all parts of the AI ecosystem — policy, innovation and capacity — are advancing together. This approach helps to ensure that developing countries can take advantage of the benefits of safe, rights-based, inclusive and sustainable AI while mitigating its risks.”

IDRC is proud to be actively supporting international collaboration through the AI for Development funders’ coalition and bolstering the power of academia and civil society through our flagship AI for Development initiative (AI4D). AI4D invests in responsible AI policy research, innovation and scaling, and capacity strengthening through multidisciplinary labs at public universities.

Across all its programming, IDRC supports evidence for responsible AI to maximize the rewards and minimize the risks of this powerful technology. 

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