Eminent technology experts from India named to new AI advisory body announced by UN Secretary-General

UN Sec-Gen Guterres announces High-Level Multistakeholder Advisory Body on AI, incl. Indian tech experts Amandeep Singh Gill, Sharad Sharma & Nazneen Rajani.

Eminent technology experts hailing from India have been named to a new global advisory body announced by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to support the international community’s efforts to govern artificial intelligence.

The High-Level Multistakeholder Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, announced by the UN Chief here on October 26, brings together experts from the government, the private sector, the research community, civil society, and academia, and is focused on building a global scientific consensus on risks and challenges, helping harness AI for the Sustainable Development Goals, and strengthening international cooperation on AI governance, a statement said.

Among the members of the advisory body are the Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology Amandeep Singh Gill; co-founder of iSPIRT Foundation, a non-profit technology think tank that has conceptualised India Stack, Health Stack, and other digital public goods Sharad Sharma and Lead Researcher at Hugging Face, India Nazneen Rajani.

Addressing reporters here, Mr. Guterres said “In our challenging times, AI could power extraordinary progress for humanity.

“From predicting and addressing crises to rolling out public health services and education services, AI could scale up and amplify the work of governments, civil society and the United Nations across the board,” he said.

Mr. Guterres noted that for developing economies, AI offers the possibility of leapfrogging outdated technologies and bringing services directly to people where needs are bigger and for the people who need them most.

Before he was appointed the Secretary General's Envoy on Technology, Mr. Gill was the CEO of the International Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) project, based at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.