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Can data and AI save lives and make the world safer?
The global climate crisis is acute. In the last few months alone, Hawaii, Morocco and Libya have experienced climate-linked catastrophes that have wiped out communities and killed tens of thousands of people.
At the same time, emerging tech – notably artificial intelligence and data ecosystems – are becoming increasingly sophisticated and influential. There’s been much focus on the perils and threats posed by these scientific developments, but how can they be proactively harnessed to mitigate climate challenges and create a more resilient world?
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, GZERO Media held a Global Stage livestream event unpacking these complex challenges and opportunities, in collaboration with the United Nations, the Complex Risk Analytics Fund, and the Early Warnings for All initiative.
This urgent conversation was be moderated by Nick Thompson, CEO, The Atlantic; and featured Melinda Bohannon, Director General of Humanitarian and Development at the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office; Ian Bremmer, President and Founder of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media; Vilas Dhar, President and Trustee, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation; Dr. Comfort Ero, President and CEO of International Crisis Group; Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction; Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General; Amandeep Singh Gill, UN Envoy on Technology; Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President, Microsoft; Axel van Trostenburg, World Bank Managing Director; and Anne Witkowsky, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations at the US Department of State.
Emerging tech is presenting huge opportunities to identify climate hotspots and scale damage and destruction. Indeed, Smith says that satellites are able to not only capture visual images, but also gather “data streams” on fossil fuel emissions. In addition, AI is also being harnessed to identify communities affected by climate calamities and see which “people have been rendered homeless.” Still, tech companies can’t do it alone. In order to identify what their exact needs are, Smith adds, partnerships with NGOs and other stakeholders are key.
Amandeep Singh Gill had much to say about how these processes are applied in real time, particularly when addressing world hunger. “Across 90 countries, 700-800 million people are at risk of food insecurity,” he notes, adding that using data across institutions has allowed the multilateral organization “to get assessments about where food insecurity is going to spike next, and that allows us to respond in a better way.”
Still, having access to copious amounts of data is one thing, but figuring out how to use it to effectuate change is quite another. “There's a real gap between the information that's out there and the ability to act upon the information that's out there,” Dr Ero says, adding that “lack of policy and action” and failure to act quickly when crises are identified are hindering these global efforts. Dr Ero points to the situation in Somalia, which is still grappling with an insurgency by the Al-Shabaab terror group while also facing floods and trying to rebuild its society. “All the data points are showing the stresses that Somalia has to deal with, but why aren't we able to respond to that?” she asks, highlighting poor governance and lack of political will as impediments to progress.
When asked about how these issues might be affected by the fact that heads of state from four out of five permanent members of the UN Security Council did not show up at the UN General Assembly this week, Amina Mohammed said there is “huge momentum” from governments and stakeholders. “The 2030 agenda is urgent, and we really do just feel that there is a movement to make that happen. There's a sense of determination … too many people are at stake.”
And there’s one elephant in the room when discussing climate change and tech advancements: China. One big issue, Bremmer notes, “is that China is really distracted by very significant domestic economic challenges and that has put real constraints, material constraints, on their foreign policy strategy over the long term,” he says.
- Use new data to fight climate change & other challenges: UN tech envoy - GZERO Media ›
- Rishi Sunak's first-ever UK AI Safety Summit: What to expect - GZERO Media ›
- How AI models are grabbing the world's data - GZERO Media ›
- AI plus existing technology: A recipe for tackling global crisis - GZERO Media ›
- Staving off "the dark side" of artificial intelligence: UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed - GZERO Media ›
- Use AI and data to predict and prevent crises - Melinda Bohannon - GZERO Media ›
Why Big Tech companies are like “digital nation states”
No government today has the toolbox to tinker with Big Tech – that's why it's time to start thinking of the biggest tech companies as bona fide "digital nation states" with their own foreign relations, Ian Bremmer explains on GZERO World. Never has a small group of companies held such an expansive influence over humanity. And in this vast new digital territory, governments have little idea what to do.
Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: Big Tech: Global sovereignty, unintended consequences
- Big Tech's big challenge to the global order - GZERO Media ›
- “Blood and glass" and the power of Big Tech - GZERO Media ›
- What can governments do about cryptocurrency? - GZERO Media ›
- Ian Bremmer explains: Should we worry about AI? - GZERO Media ›
- How tech companies aim to make AI more ethical and responsible - GZERO Media ›
- The technopolar world: A new dimension of geopolitics — Kevin Allison - GZERO Media ›
Nicholas Thompson on China's tech U-turn
Six months ago, China's tech giants were champions of the state, working with the government to conquer US Big Tech. But then Xi Jinping started cracking down, and a trillion dollars in their market value is gone. Huh? For Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and former editor-in-chief of WIRED, it makes sense for Xi to go after cryptocurrencies to ensure they don't replace the yuan. But going after national tech champions, he says, could be fool's errand because it's inevitable they'll someday become more powerful than the state itself.
Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: Big Tech: Global sovereignty, unintended consequences
- LinkedIn right to shut down in China, says journalist Nick Thompson ... ›
- Podcast: Brave new big tech world: Nicholas Thompson's ... ›
- China takes a “rare” swipe at the US - GZERO Media ›
- Why is China trying to game the gamers? - GZERO Media ›
- Will China's tech sector be held back? - GZERO Media ›
- Who's winning the global battle for tech primacy? - GZERO Media ›
Have governments lost control of the digital world?
Sort of, but governments haven't lost all control yet. On the one hand, The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson says that governments can still push tech companies for transparency in their algorithms, while Microsoft has partnered with the US government to together fight hackers "so the company is seen as a champion for freedom and democracy." On the other, over time Thompson expects tech firms in the US and China to gradually become more powerful as the state becomes less powerful toward them. Watch his interview with Ian Bremmer on the latest episode of GZERO World.
Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: Big Tech: Global sovereignty, unintended consequences
Nick Thompson: Facebook realized too late it couldn’t control its own algorithms
Three years ago, Facebook changed its algorithms to mitigate online rage and misinformation. But it only made Facebook worse by boosting toxic engagement, says Nick Thompson, The Atlantic CEO & former WIRED editor-in-chief. Thompson believes Facebook simply got in over its head, rather than becoming intentionally "evil" like, say, Big Tobacco with cigarettes. "I think they just created something they couldn't control. And I think they didn't grasp what was happening until too late." Watch his interview with Ian Bremmer on the latest episode of GZERO World.
- LinkedIn right to shut down in China, says journalist Nick Thompson ... ›
- “Blood and glass" and the power of Big Tech - GZERO Media ›
- The Big Tech breakup: Could it happen? - GZERO Media ›
- Is Facebook like a car or a cigarette? - GZERO Media ›
- Facebook metaverse launch leads other Big Tech firms to focus on AR/VR - GZERO Media ›
- Podcast: How to get social media companies to protect users (instead of hurting them) - GZERO Media ›
- Podcast: Man-made crisis: how do we survive on the planet we warmed? UN environment chief explains - GZERO Media ›
- Podcast: Brave new big tech world: Nicholas Thompson's perspective - GZERO Media ›
LinkedIn out of China | GZERO World
LinkedIn right to shut down in China, says journalist Nick Thompson
The Atlantic CEO Nick Thompson believes in tech firms doing business in China because connecting with people there is a huge social good for the world. But in demanding LinkedIn de-platform certain people, he says, the Chinese government crossed a line, and "you can't justify that."
Watch Ian Bremmer's interview with Nicholas Thompson in an upcoming episode of GZERO World, airing on US public television.
- Nick Thompson: Facebook realized too late it couldn’t control its own algorithms - GZERO Media ›
- Security flaws in China’s My2022 Olympics app could allow surveillance - GZERO Media ›
- Podcast: Man-made crisis: how do we survive on the planet we warmed? UN environment chief explains - GZERO Media ›
- Podcast: Brave new big tech world: Nicholas Thompson's perspective - GZERO Media ›
Twitter bans QAnon; CRISPR gene tech
Nicholas Thompson, Editor-in-chief of WIRED, provides his perspective on technology news:
Twitter has said it will knockout QAnon. How will that work out?
QAnon is a strange, mysterious, far-right conspiracy theory. Twitter removing it will actually make a difference. It's very easy to say, "oh, we'll just migrate to Facebook or elsewhere," and that is partly true, but Twitter is a central node in how the conspiracy theory is spread. Remove it, and it will spread more slowly.
How close are we to CRISPR agriculture?
Well, this is in response to a story we just ran in WIRED about the first CRISPR born cow, a cow whose genes had been adjusted using the technique of CRISPR to make it then male, which is better for beef cows. Dairy cows, you want female. Beef cows, you want male. It didn't work out perfectly. The cow is a boy but has all kinds of other problems suggesting for this particular use of CRISPR, it's going to be a long time.
Twitter hack mystery; does two-factor authentication make you safe?
Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief of WIRED, helps us make sense of today's stories in technology:
Whoa Twitter! What happened this week?
Well, on Wednesday, a whole bunch of prominent Twitter accounts, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Apple, started tweeting out a Bitcoin scam. The same one. It said, "send money to this address and we'll send you back twice as much." Clearly a fraud. But what was interesting about it is that it wasn't like one account that had been compromised. A whole bunch of accounts have been compromised. Meaning most likely someone got access to a control panel at Twitter. The big mystery is how they got access to it? And why, if they had so much power, all they did was run a stupid Bitcoin scam?
How can we keep ourselves safe? Is two-factor authentication the only option?
Two-factor authentication, you need two things to get into your account, your cell phone and your password, is absolutely essential. With this hack, though, that wouldn't have helped you. The only thing you could possibly have done is have deleted your Twitter account. Which is a reminder, remove all the accounts you don't use, all the accounts you don't want, move all the applications with access to the accounts that you want. Basically, constantly, constantly clean out your barn.