Oxford Initiative on AI×SDGs

The Oxford Initiative on AI×SDGs seeks to determine how artificial intelligence (AI) has been and can in the future be used to support and advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The initiative aims to help policymakers, especially those operating within the sustainable development space, tackle SDGs more effectively, by identifying global problems AI may help solve, and recommending tools and best practices for doing so. It will also seek to create a network of socially good AI projects and will aim to draw important lessons from real case studies in order to advance evidence-based ethical guidelines for future AI projects for social good more generally.

• What other AI projects are already addressing the SDGs?
• What explains the gaps in geographical areas and in which goals are addressed, and how can these gaps be bridged?
• What explains whether a given project using AI to address one or more SDGs will succeed or fail?
• What are the most important lessons to be learned and practices to be adopted, and can they be synthesised in a practical methodology to enable future AI projects supporting SDGs to thrive?
• How can coordination and collaboration be fostered among researchers and AI-based initiatives focusing on SDGs?
• Can an ethical code of practice be formulated to support the use of AI to address the SDGs?
• What roles could be played by key stakeholders – including policymakers and practitioners at all levels – and how could their involvement be encouraged and enhanced on the basis of the evidence gathered?

• Facebook
• Google
• Microsoft

Relevant academic articles and working papers from our research team.

Cowls, J., Tsamados, A., Taddeo, M., et al., (2021). A definition, benchmark and database of AI for social good initiatives. Nat Mach Intell.

Floridi, L., Cowls, J., King, T., Taddeo,M., (2020). How to Design AI for Social Good: Seven Essential Factors. Science and Engineering Ethics.