Commission on Science and Technology for Development: The Role of AI in Sustainable Development

In an era marked by unprecedented technological advancements, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to be the single most transformative innovation. AI will empower humans to harness data in new ways, reach breakthroughs in industries like healthcare and education at extraordinary speeds, automate tedious tasks, and transform industries in new ways. Humanity is already beginning to see the effects of AI’s power in various industries, especially with the meteoric rise of ChatGPT. However, as the world has witnessed over the last few decades of the internet age, digital progress inevitably provokes complicated questions and concerns about societal harms that must be addressed. Exactly how the coming AI revolution will affect the globe is among the most pressing of these questions, especially given the international community’s limited time to find solutions to the increasingly urgent challenge of climate change. Past industrial revolutions have all achieved crucial economic growth at the cost of the planet’s health, highlighting the world’s tendency to harm future generations’ standard of living to pay for present desires. Ultimately, global leaders must carefully navigate current technological transformations to ensure that AI breaks this pattern and, for the first time, empowers sustainability rather than exploits the planet.