By: Nana
Appiah Acquaye
United Nations Tech Envoy
Amandeep Gill has called for a human-led approach to artificial intelligence,
stressing that AI is developed by people and can therefore be guided by human
decisions, policies and capacity.
Gill made the remarks while
opening Digital Cooperation Day in New York under the theme “Shaping A Global
AI Future Through Science, Policy, and Capacity.”
He framed the theme around
three actions — to know, to choose and to act — with science providing
countries with the evidence to know, policy enabling them to choose and
capacity giving them the means to act.
The discussions come two
years after the adoption of the Global Digital Compact, with the focus now
shifting towards putting its principles into practice.
The opening session brought
together representatives from science, policy and capacity-building
institutions to examine the three pillars underpinning the day’s discussions.
Sonia Livingstone of the
Independent International Scientific Panel on AI represented the science
pillar, while H.E. Egriselda López, Co-Chair of the 2026 Global Dialogue on AI
Governance, addressed policy. Vilas Dhar of The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
represented the capacity pillar.
President Alar Karis of
Estonia delivered special remarks during the opening programme.
The morning session also
featured Joseph Gordon-Levitt, UN Global Advocate for Human-Centric Digital
Governance, who opened the programme, while Megan Garcia, Esq. joined a
fireside conversation examining the human stakes of artificial intelligence.
