Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) technology is transforming the way humans interact and society operates. As the development of AI accelerates, many of us see the need for a movement that ensures we harness AI’s benefits and mitigate its risks.
To explore these questions and start identifying solutions, The Rockefeller Foundation has designed A Month of AI in Bellagio that kicks off this week. The Bellagio Center is a remarkable conference and residency center in Italy celebrating 60 years of enabling groundbreaking ideas, partnerships, and commitments. After months of consultations with a range of experts, we have curated a month-long residency program and three week-long conferences that will bring together leading experts and innovators from technology, the public sector, social sciences, and the arts. Each conference will unpack a set of questions related to the intersection of AI and society. The overall objective is to build a collective vision for how AI can be used to promote social goals and people’s well-being, proactively shaping human + machine collaborations in the near future. We have designed the meetings to shape new projects that will be important, action-oriented steps towards realizing that vision.
The overall objective is to build a collective vision for how AI can be used to promote social goals and people’s well-being.
During this first week, we are hosting a conference to frame the month and propose new ideas to guide the development of AI so that it maximizes its net positive impact on society. The design of this week is to explore certain issues in a structured way – these include topics such as algorithmic bias, developing the appropriate institutions to govern AI, and even evaluating the very idea of what it means to be a human with agency. Our vision is to create a process by which collaborative projects can emerge that have a high likelihood of being implemented and realizing outcomes because they’ve been informed by diverse and expert perspectives, and they are championed by participants whose passion, expertise, and influence heighten the chances for success. While we do not expect the first wave of deliverables to happen until 30 days after the conference concludes, we want to bring you along this journey with us. We will continue to share insights from these conversations over the course of the month and look forward to engaging with you via social media at #BellagioAI.
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