WEF launches Global AI Action Alliance

WEF LAUNCHES GLOBAL AI ACTION ALLIANCE TO ACCELERATE ADOPTION OF TRANSPARENT, INCLUSIVE AI

In a bid to harness the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) by accelerating the adoption of trusted, transparent and inclusive AI systems globally, the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January launched the Global AI Action Alliance.

The alliance is a multi-stakeholder collaboration platform and project incubator designed to accelerate the adoption of inclusive, trusted and transparent artificial intelligence (AI) globally and across industry sectors.

The project brings together more than 100 leading companies, governments, international organisations, non-profits and academics united in their commitment to maximising the societal benefits of AI.

The WEF said the alliance builds on over three years of successful efforts to create interoperable governance protocols for the development and use of AI technologies. The Forum added that the alliance will collaborate closely with the Forum’s Industry Action Groups and its Data for Common Purpose Initiative (DCPI) to ensure that AI governance reflects best practices in data governance and is interoperable globally and across industry sectors.

The Global AI Action Alliance is overseen by a steering committee comprised of top global leaders from industry, government, academia and civil society co-chaired by IBM CEO and chairman Arvind Krishna, and Patrick J.McGovern Foundation president Vilas Dhar. The initiative is also supported by a grant from the Patrick J.McGovern Foundation.

The WEF said members of the alliance will work together to identify and implement the most promising tools for ensuring that AI systems are ethical and serve all of society, including groups historically underserved by AI.

The platform will enable alliance members to participate in real-time learning, pilot new approaches to ethical AI, scale adoption of best practices, and undertake collective action to ensure that AI’s benefits are shared by all.

How it’ll work

The WEF said participating organisations support the alliance through an institutional commitment to its mission as well as active participation in one or more working groups. These member-driven communities of action focus on priority governance topics, collaborating in real-time to:

1. Aggregate the most relevant tools and practices for addressing key governance challenges

2. Accelerate their adoption at scale across priority sectors and geographies

3. Drive real-time learning and rapid scaling of proven tools and approaches

4. Catalyse collective action to address key governance gaps and create global interoperability

Participating organisations join the alliance by committing to its mission institutionally and participating actively in its global efforts. Members will designate one or more executives to contribute actively to the alliance’s Working Groups on behalf of their organisation and in line with their institutional priorities.

Global AI Action Alliance members will lead in developing and delivering the activities of a Working Group, collaborating with its co-champions to set the agenda and drive real-time learning and action.

The alliance’s members will nominate a qualified individual to provide on secondment to the World Economic Forum’s AI team, where they play an integral role in building the alliance and driving action. ai