Dean Peter Tufano has announced the launch of the Oxford Initiative on AI×SDGs.
Led by Professors Andrew Stephen and Luciano Floridi, and supported by Facebook, Google and Microsoft, the initiative will explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been used to support and advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Addressing delegates at The University of Oxford's first major international Artificial Intelligence conference, Tufano commented: ‘Business Schools have to address the SDG agenda. This exciting new initiative will bring leading faculty together from across the University who are experts in AI, its applications in business, sustainable development and public policy, to address global social issues.’
The research team will seek to design evidence-based policies for governments, NGOs and businesses to tackle SDGs more effectively, and recommend tools and best practices to widen impact. In addition to answering the key questions around how AI is already being used to meet the SDGs, and developing tools and resources to enable it to be better used in future, the team will establish an open repository of case studies that address the SDGs with AI.
Professor Floridi commented: ‘The Oxford Initiative on AI×SDGs is a significant development in how real applications of artificial intelligence (AI) can concretely help us solve pressing problems, both social and environmental. It is time to translate ethical principles into effective practices, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals offer a clear and uncontroversial agenda for the ethical design, development and deployment of digital technologies, especially AI.’
The research initiative is planned to run for an initial period of three years with the first deliverables planned to meet the next two UN General Assembly meetings in 2019 and 2020. For all further updates and outputs, visit the new initiative page on the website.