Eight technology companies, including the American IT giant Microsoft, signed a pact for “building more ethical artificial intelligence” on Monday during a global forum organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Slovenia, according to the French news agency.
UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay was quoted in a statement from the organization as saying that this is a “big new step” following the adoption of the world’s first global rules on artificial intelligence by more than 50 countries in November 2021 and hopes to “obtain the same commitment from major companies”. She emphasized that this alliance is “necessary for the development of artificial intelligence that serves the public good”.
In addition to Microsoft, the pact was also signed by “LG AI Research”, a subsidiary of the South Korean giant LG, the Chinese group Lenovo, the banking card company Mastercard, the American software group Salesforce, and the Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica.
The signatories committed themselves to “fully assuming their role in protecting human rights in the design, development, purchase, sale, and use of artificial intelligence”.
Practically, the pact obliges companies to implement “verification procedures” to assess risks and correct “the negative effects of artificial intelligence within a reasonable timeframe”.
The agreement was signed at the Kransjka Gora conference center near the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, where the second UNESCO Global Forum on this topic is being held.
This comes just a few days after the approval by the European Union member states on a groundbreaking legislation at the global level to regulate artificial intelligence, following intense negotiations on balancing innovation freedom and maintaining security.
