Category: Artificial Intelligence
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Measuring AI, Responsibly – IV
The complexity of measuring RAI in over one hundred countries covering all regions should not be underestimated. GIRAI’s undertaking should thereby be acknowledged and openly praised. In a previous life, I had the opportunity to manage a global ICT for development program covering over 50 countries in all regions. While sleep time suffered quite a…
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Measuring AI, Responsibly – III
Although not unchallenged, GDP remains the indicator’s champion — I am sure Kuznets must still be delighted about this. Most nations work very hard to make it grow at all costs, as, in principle, the gains translate into higher living standards and human development, which are very laudable goals indeed. The flip side is its…
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Measuring AI, Responsibly – II
Most reports presenting indices of any kind include a section or annex detailing its methodology and furnishing basic equations to replicate index calculations. Unfortunately, GIRAI does not follow such a pattern. The report has scant information on the topic. The website explains a bit more but falls short, too. However, the latter links to a…
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Measuring AI, Responsibly – I
First published in 2017, Stanford’s AI Index Report provides extensive AI information covering a wide range of topics. Take no prisoners seems to be its implicit motto. The latest 2024 version is the most voluminous yet, with over 450 pages. Areas such as the economy, health, policy and governance, and diversity are part of the…
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The Governance of AI Governance – III
As described in previous posts, governance has evolved historically, assuming different configurations depending on socio-economic and political contexts. In the Capitalist era, the nation-state emerged as the governance master. Still, alternative governance processes demanding the involvement of non-state actors have challenged it in the past 40 years or so. That has put pressure on existing…
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The Governance of AI Governance – II
The four governance components depicted in the previous post can have highly diverse configurations that depend to a large extent on the specific social characteristics of the groups harnessing to reach given outcomes. Given our core topic, AI governance, my main focus here at the macro level, that is, on specific socio-economic formations, particularly on…
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The Governance of AI Governance – I
A few years ago, before LLMs took the world by storm, I led a small team of experts contracted to assess public institutions in an emerging economy. Under the umbrella of government assessments, the job was to evaluate the performance of over 20 institutions based on a methodology designed by international subject-matter experts closely working…
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AI’s Solo Learning
From a philosophical perspective, the schism between symbolic and connectionist AI boils down to a question of epistemology, which, in turn, triggers additional ontological and ethical differences between the two—as mentioned in my previous post. How a computational agent learns is thus at the core of such a discord. Today, connectionist AI rules the world…
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AI Philosophy
That Neural Networks (NNs) are the most successful AI in history is indisputable. Large Language Models (LLMs) resounding success has made that much more evident and incontrovertible. Curiously, most people do not seem to remember that NNs predated the term “Artificial Intelligence” by over a decade. Indeed, in 1943, a neuroscientist and a mathematician joined…
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AI Typology
While researching the deployment of artificial intelligence within the public sector, I encountered a limited number of precious case studies that poked a bit deeper into the benefits and risks of such a move . For the most part, that set of studies focused on public service provision, while a few explored AI’s institutional impact…
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AI and ICTs
Is AI an ICT? It sounds like a straightforward question. But before we dive into those seemingly shallow waters, let us tackle acronym abuse. I hope to use four consistently: AI (Artificial Intelligence), Gen AI (Generative AI), IT (Information Technology), and ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) – while adding a few more along the way.…
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Generative AI (GenAI) in the Public Sector
It was a last-minute decision. The annual New York Film Festival was underway, and I had carefully studied its lineup. My list had four options: 1. Must see. 2. Should see. 3. See some time later on. And 4. Not really interested. The film playing that day was part of the second set. Sixty minutes…
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Regulating AI
The EU’s December agreement on legislation tackling AI deployment and use in the Union and beyond is yet more evidence of its global leadership in the area of digital technology regulation . A few weeks before the epic event, heavy lobbying by the usual suspects had placed the legislation’s future on the line . Generative…
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Decolonizing AI
Just like the Internet, the origins of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are linked to wars and ensuing military operations. In this case, WWII was the critical catalyst in supporting the research efforts of early pioneers such as Turing, Shannon and Wiener. Building on Turing’s theory of computation and recent developments in mathematical modeling, two academic researchers…
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Regulating Digital Platforms – IV
That the EU is well ahead of the rest of the world regarding digital technology regulation is not under dispute . The recent agreement on AI regulation provides further evidence of its leadership . A more interesting question is why the Union has not been able to give birth to digital platforms and companies that…