Call for Proposals to Highlight Blind Spots in AI development

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About the Organization:

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris. They declared purpose is to contribute to promoting international collaboration in education, sciences, and culture in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter.

Call for Proposals to Highlight Blind Spots in AI development

UNESCO in cooperation with Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, is launching a Call for Proposals to identify blind spots in AI Policy and Programme Development. The collective work will explore creative, novel and far-reaching approaches to tackling blind spots in the AI lifecycle.

The publication will provide world leaders, policy-makers, and civil society members with perspectives that will be critical to face the immense task they’re presented: to ensure the development of AI reaches its full potential in accordance with democratic values and fundamental rights and freedoms.

The magnitude of this challenge requires a collaborative effort that transcends disciplinary barriers and geographical borders. This publication will bring together visionary academics, civil society representatives, artists and innovators to help them shift the conversation from what they already know to what they have yet to render visible to ensure AI technologies leave no one behind.

If AI technologies are developed and used for the benefit of all, they have the potential to be of great service to humanity. They can accelerate medical discoveries, offer unprecedented access to education, amplify the resonance and resilience of cultures, knowledge and arts, as well as help them face the climate crisis by increasing the capacity to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.

However, as deep and far reaching as these benefits are, so too are the challenges they pose. From disrupting job markets to reproducing or amplifying discrimination, AI technologies could erode the foundations of the democracies, threaten the cultural, social and ecological diversity, and deepen inequalities within and between countries.

Issues can address:

• blind spots in the development of AI as a technology
• blind spots in the development of AI as a sector, and
• blind spots in the development of public policies, global governance, and regulation for AI.

Eligibility Criteria:

• Proposals can be in creative formats, and the call for proposals is open to individuals from all academic backgrounds and sectors.
• Proposals from all stakeholder groups, particularly marginalized and underrepresented groups, are encouraged, as well as proposals from authors from the global south and innovative formats (artwork, cartoons, etc.).

Funding:

• To ensure inclusivity and a diversity of voices, for accepted contributions outside of academia, authors may request financial support available on a needs-based basis up to 1000 USD.

For more information please check the Link