The Artificial Intelligence podcasts
Short summaries from the Inter-Parliamentary Union's workshops
Still trying to get your head around the basics of artificial intelligence or AI or want to make sure that your knowledge is up to date? These special editions of the Science4Parliament podcast are summaries of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) workshops originally created by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) for members of parliament but are also useful for anyone who wants a grounding on what is a very rapidly developing technology.
The workshops were organised to inform the AI resolution which was adopted at the IPU’s General Assembly in October 2024.
The aim of this resolution is to encourage parliamentarians to consider the social and ethical impacts of AI and the issues that they, as decision-makers, should be aware of when considering legislating for it, to ensure its fair development and use and that it is beneficial for all of humanity.
Session one covers the basics of AI technologies, how they are developed and used.
Session two is a deeper dive into the impact that AI is having on the world, its potential benefits and risks.
Session three looks at current legislation on AI and what might be needed in the future.
Is AI hype? Episode 2 - Joel Bilt
The links to the Science4Parliament workshop summaries are below; please do share them with whomever you think might be interested.
Science4Parliament - Special AI editions
Part 1 - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2249694/episodes/15896531
Part 2 - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2249694/episodes/15902198
Part 3 - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2249694/episodes/15902412
Session one
Dr. Tulia Ackson, the president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, who opened and closed the workshops, spoke about the importance of the artificial intelligence resolution to provide leadership and guidance to parliamentarians globally.
Yoshua Bengio, founder and scientific director of the Montreal Institute for Artificial Intelligence, gave an overview of the basics of AI and the difficulties parliamentarians are being faced with.
Inma Martinez, chair of the multi-stakeholder expert group and co-chair of the steering committee at the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, spoke about the work of the partnership, the potential of artificial intelligence and the importance of who is actually doing the regulating.
Session two
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, who spoke about the changes that these new technologies are having on society and humanity.
Session three
Carol Roach, Chair of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) set out the basics of what is needed to regulate AI and gave advice for parliamentarians when they are undertaking this challenge.
Martin Ulbrich, senior expert on AI Policy, with DG CNECT in the European Commission, was involved in the drafting of the white paper and the whole regulatory area of AI in the EU. He gave an overview of the development of the EU AI Act, the world's first comprehensive AI law, which aims to ensure the equitable and responsible development, and use of this innovative technology.
Finally, Quintin Chou-Lambert, senior programme officer with the office of the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology, gave an oversight on the roadmap for digital cooperation, which provides a vision and direction for an increasingly digital world.
Humanising technology - Episode 3 - Martin Ulbrich
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 was adopted at the 149th IPU General Assembly in October 2024. It is available on the IPU’s webpage IPU.org
If you would like to listen to the seminars in their entirety, you do so on the IPU’s YouTube channel @IpuOrg
All episodes of the Science4Parliament podcast are available here, and if you have any comments or questions, please text the show at the link at the top of the page or email me at dnaughten@gmail.com.