Disarmament in Review
On 13 February a group of Artificial Intelligence (AI) educators, curriculum developers and governance representatives based in Estonia met for a frank and productive closed roundtable on responsible innovation and the education of future AI practitioners.
Over the afternoon, participants reviewed various approaches to responsible innovation across their different programmes and institutions, and in a spirited discussion confronted whether there are structural or other problems with the way that future AI practitioners are trained. Across three rounds of moderated dialogue, those present mapped the state of play, including to what extent students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are exposed to the societal impact of technology, ethics, technology governance, and responsible innovation during their undergraduate and graduate education, explored how to evaluate the needs of students for the future, and when and how to address those, examined how to identify the path forward, and gave their opinions on how to include responsible innovation in undergraduate and graduate education, whether such courses should be mandatory, and how they should be resourced.
The roundtable, hosted by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and co-organized with the Tallinn University of Technology, is part of an EU-funded initiative on Promoting Responsible Innovation in AI for Peace and Security. It forms part of an ongoing pillar of this initiative, focused on engaging educators and developers of academic curricula on responsible innovation of AI, and mainstreaming the consideration of the peace and security risks that flow from the diversion and misuse of civilian AI research and innovation by irresponsible actors in the training of future AI practitioners (e.g., in courses on AI ethics and responsible innovation). The results of the roundtable will feed into further outputs of this initiative, including a handbook for practitioners and educators, and a report to capture and consolidate the findings and recommendations into a single reference document aimed at both the civilian-responsible AI and the arms control communities.
The successful roundtable was a companion to the ongoing workshop series aimed at providing up-and-coming AI practitioners the opportunity to learn how to address the risks that civilian AI research and innovation may pose to international peace and security. The series will continue throughout 2024.
For further information on the Responsible Innovation and AI activities of the Office for Disarmament Affairs, please contact Mr. Charles Ovink, Political Affairs Officer, at charles.ovink@un.org.
