Text the Science4Parliament podcast here.Welcome to the second of the special AI editions of the Science4Parliament podcast. These episodes are a summary of three workshops which took place online in early 2024 to inform the IPU’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) resolution, which was adopted at the IPU’s General Assembly in October 2024.This resolution aims to encourage parliamentarians to consider the social and ethical impacts of this new technology and the issues that they, as decision-makers, should be aware of when considering legislating for AI to ensure that its development and use is fair and beneficial for all of humanity.The workshops were designed as part of the journey to the resolution, as a learning tool and also to stimulate interest and debate. The process was steered by two rapporteurs, Michelle Rempel Garner, Member of the House of Commons of Canada, and Neema Lugangira, Member of Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania, who moderated the first two sessions, and I moderated the third session. Session one covered the basics of AI technologies, how they are developed and used, and how they are impacting the world, session two sees a deeper delve into the emerging impacts of AI on society and how governments need to work to harness these potential benefits and mitigate any harms. The third session was an assessment of legislation in relation to AI, what is currently in place and how to plan for what may be needed in the future.Speakers:Tawfik Jelassi, Assistant Director General for communications and information with UNESCO, provided the opening remarks. Joel Bilt, a senior fellow at the Center of International Governance Innovation and the associate professor of economics at the University of Waterloo, Canada, talked about the steps that the growth of artificial intelligence, or any other technology, is likely to follow. The final speaker in the session was Philip Thigo, advisor to the Government of Kenya and a member of the United Nations High-Level advisory body on artificial intelligence, he spoke about the changes that these new technologies are having on society and humanity.More information The draft AI resolution, ‘The impact of artificial intelligence on democracy, human rights and the rule of law’, was published on 25 July 2024, following extensive collaborations with parliaments and experts, and adopted at the 149th IPU General Assembly in October 2024.It is available on the IPU’s webpage, IPU.org. The links to the other two workshop summaries are below; please do share them with anyone you think might be interested:Science4Parliament - Special AI edition Part 1 - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2249694/episodes/15896531Part 3 - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2249694/episodes/15902412If you would like to listen to the seminars in their entirety, you can do so on the IPU’s YouTube channel @IpuOrg If you have any comments or questions, please text the show at the link at the top of the page, email me at
[email protected] or follow me on social media:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-naughtenX: https://x.com/DenisNaughtenBlog: https://substack.com/@denisnaughtenWeb: https://denisn This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit denisnaughten.substack.com