29 October 2019
UNGA Second Committee Discusses AI, Digitization Risks and Benefits
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The UNGA's Second Committee held a side events with experts to understand emerging models of economic activities and their implications for sustainable development.

Participants stressed the need to steer technology “in the right direction” to ensure more equitable and fair societies and contribute to sustainable development.

24 October 2019: The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the UN General Assembly held a meeting with experts to understand emerging models of economic activities and their implications for sustainable development. The Committee aims to identify policy options for maximizing the benefits of emerging economic activities and minimizing their risks. Participants stressed the need to steer technology “in the right direction” to ensure more equitable and fair societies and contribute to sustainable development.

The side event of the Second Committee took place on 24 October 2019, at UN Headquarters in New York.

Jonathan Donner, Caribou Digital, noted that while digitization transforms agriculture, manufacturing and services, it will not replace them. He underlined the importance of close connection with the people behind each type of livelihood, and to learn from their grassroots innovations in using social media and other technologies to promote entrepreneurial activities and to upgrade their skills. For example, a juice producer in Kenya updates her WhtasApp profile photo daily to promote her juices, while a baker used YouTube videos to build her baking skills and her business.

Alex Rosenblat, author of Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work, reported that Uber drivers are not the independent entrepreneurs portrayed by Uber’s public narrative, but contractors managed by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. AI distances Uber from its drivers, she has found, as the company delegates hiring and firing decisions to AI, and uses AI to provide drivers with guidance on how to behave. Uber has argued that its drivers are “consumers of its technology” as much as its clients, rather than employees, Rosenblat said, making Uber an example of “tech-washing,” or using technology to strip benefits from workers.

Fidan Ana Kurtulus, University of Massachusetts Amherst, US, suggested that governments support co-operative firms by issuing fiscal incentives, promoting their benefits, and favoring them in government contracts. Her research has shown that co-operative firms (with broad-based employee ownership) are more resilient in economic recessions; they are less likely to lay off workers and they perform better than other firms. They are also more environmentally conscious and better at retaining workers.

Patrick Kabanda, author of The Creative Wealth of Nations: Can the Arts Advance Development?, underscored the need for investment in arts and creative fields, arguing that creative jobs are essential to innovation and public engagement, while being also greener and ensuring better performance due to worker satisfaction.

Mohammad Koba, Permanent Mission of Indonesia, said his country hosted the first World Conference on Creative Economy in 2018, which focused on the contribution of the creative economy to sustainable development. The second Conference on Creative Economy will be hosted in UAE in 2020. He added that the UNGA’s Second Committee should regulate the digital economy, keeping the regulations flexible enough to allow innovation.

In the ensuing discussions, participants raised issues related to, inter alia: the need for new narratives showing the benefits of the circular economy and of an economy that works for people; the ‘Green Group’ composed of several UN Member States, which promotes the green economy and green technologies; and the impact of technology on the informal-formal economy divide. [Event Concept Note] [SDG Knowledge Hub Sources]

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