Ensuring effective governance of AI at all levels

This year’s theme for the International Day of Democracy is focused on the importance of Artificial Intelligence as a tool for good governance.

In his message for the observance, Secretary-General António Guterres notes that AI has the potential to enhance public participation, equality, security, and human development but warns that if “left unchecked” its dangers “could have serious implications for democracy, peace, and stability”.

Effective governance of AI at all levels, including internationally, is crucial, states the Secretary-General recalling that the High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence recently released a report “with recommendations on harnessing AI benefits while mitigating risks”.

Recommendations: AI tools must be available for everyone

The report identifies the following principles that should guide the formation of new global AI governance institutions:

• Inclusivity: all citizens, including those in the Global South, should be able to access and meaningfully use AI tools.
• Public interest: governance should go beyond the do-no-harm principle and define a broader accountability framework for companies that build, deploy and control AI, as well as downstream users.
• Centrality of data governance: AI governance cannot be divorced from the governance of data and the promotion of data commons.
• Universal, networked and multistakeholder: AI governance should prioritize universal buy-in by countries and stakeholders. It should leverage existing institutions through a networked approach.
• International Law: AI governance needs to be anchored in the UN Charter,International Human Rights Law, and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Analyzing the impact of AI in democracies

Similarly, UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence is the first global policy framework for AI, focusing on its impact on political life and democracy. The report delves into the current and potential impact of AI on democracy and the benefits of digitalization for collective decision-making

Organized around four key themes - democratic expectations and disappointments of digitization, the new digital public sphere, the democracy of data, and democracy as a form of political decision-making - it offers recommendations for the democratic governance of artificial intelligence to mitigate negative impacts and promote a more democratic approach to AI governance.

Stories from the UN System

The UN promotes good governance, monitors elections, supports the civil society to strengthen democratic institutions and accountability, ensures self-determination in decolonized countries, and assists in the drafting of new constitutions in post-conflict nations. Read some stories about how the UN supports democracy.

Stories

Background

The International Day of Democracy provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. Democracy is as much a process as a goal, and only with the full participation of and support by the international community, national governing bodies, civil society and individuals, can the ideal of democracy be made into a reality to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But around the world, there are governments and those wielding power who find many ways to obstruct it.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

The link between democracy and press freedom is also enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The International Day of Democracy is an opportunity to reinforce the importance of upholding free speech, civil liberties, and the rule of law; ensuring accountable institutions; and protecting and promoting human rights.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres