AI for Information Accessibility: Prologue to the Series, with Cordel Green

AYUSHI KHEMKA: Hello and welcome to the Artificial Intelligence for Information Accessibility (AI4IA) podcast, organized by Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.The AI4IA podcast series is in association with the Artificial Intelligence for Information Accessibility 2022 Conference on September 28, 2022, which will commemorate the International Day for Universal Access to Information. The AI4IA Conference and the podcast series are also being hosted in collaboration with AI4Society and the Kule Institute for Advanced Studies, both at the University of Alberta; the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy at the Observer Research Foundation in India; and the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica.

In this episode we will give you a sneak peek into who we are, what we are doing, and why we are doing it. I am Ayushi Khemka, your host and a Ph.D. student at the University of Alberta. Today I am in conversation with Mr. Cordel Green, UNESCO's Information for All Programme (IFAP) Working Group on Information Accessibility chair. He is also a member of the advisory board for Carnegie Council's Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative. He is the person who is making all of this possible.

We welcome you, Cordel. My first question to you is: Why don't you tell our listeners what this podcast is all about?

CORDEL GREEN: Thank you very much, Ayushi. First of all, I want to thank Carnegie Council and the Carnegie AI & Equality Initiative for this opportunity and to also acknowledge our partners.

Our objective is to not just raise the visibility of the AI4IA Conference, which will be held on September 28, but to focus on some of the critical issues which will be tackled at that conference. I want to say though hastily that when we talk about AI sometimes it becomes sort of technocentric, and I want to assure people that the podcast is going to be delivered in a manner that makes artificial intelligence accessible to regular folk, not just people with an interest in or technical knowledge about artificial intelligence. The podcast series will be in simple, nonacademic, and nontechnical language.

AYUSHI KHEMKA: Awesome. My next question to you is: We know that artificial intelligence is becoming more and more important with every passing day, and the responsibility of making sure that the technological advancements are used to make information accessible to all becomes more and more pertinent. Why do you think information accessibility matters, and what does it mean to make information accessible through AI?

CORDEL GREEN: Ayushi, first of all I think it is important for all of us to understand that AI can be very beneficial to society, but when it is abused or misused it is very harmful, and this situation is worsened by the fact that there are many people who know nothing about artificial intelligence, although increasingly all around us it is present and very much influencing what we read, what we see, what we hear, what we think about, and what we do.

Artificial intelligence is a tool. It is not our savior and it is not our master, and we should not be misled by AI hype and believe that AI must develop as desired by engineers or that we have to suffer from bad consequences because of the thoughtlessness of anyone who is involved in developing AI. We can and must insist on AI development, deployment, and access that is respectful of our human rights and protects the most vulnerable, particularly children. Artificial intelligence must be used to preserve our democratic and cultural traditions and not work against them, as we are seeing with fake news or properly disinformation and misinformation.

The point is that when regular people understand the power of artificial intelligence for good and bad we can then insist that our governments and businesses operate in a framework designed to support the ethical development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence, that is, AI that comports with freedom of expression; respects the value of preserving free choice; enables universal access to information; enhances and not diminishes the quality of journalism; enhances cultural and linguistic diversity, not making us less diverse; and AI developed and used in a manner respectful of rights to privacy while mitigating against consumer manipulation.

None of that will happen in an environment of low levels of digital literacy, information inequity, or the huge divide that exists between digital elites and regular citizens. That is the importance of the conference we have organized, Artificial Intelligence for Information Accessibility. It is promoting an inclusive, omni-, multi-stakeholder approach to artificial intelligence governance, which means all us must be involved in this process, and it begins with the sharing of information in ways that are accessible—the language used, the platform used, the people who are coming to speak. We try to have a broad mix of individuals because we are talking about a next-generation technology so it can and will affect all sectors.

AYUSHI KHEMKA: Right. I think my last question to you would be: What can our listeners expect from this series as a whole?

CORDEL GREEN: Perhaps I should start, Ayushi, by using the conference as the point of departure, because the Artificial Intelligence for Information Accessibility Conference on September 28 will cover a range of themes and these include: AI ethics; AI and law; the use of AI to overcome disabilities and to deliver access; women who are leading AI innovation; values and principles that support nonexploitative information access for the unconnected; artificial intelligence for a positive planet; how AI intersects with e-governance and culture; data sovereignty; AI and neurotechnological convergence and other technologies such as virtual, augmented, and extended reality; AI and localism; AI and health; AI intersecting with art and human creativity; the importance of information accessibility; and all of these with reference to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The podcast will feature some of those topics, some of the interesting speakers we have, and therefore will deliver great perspectives. I have to make a confession to you, Ayushi. I am personally looking forward to our chat with a Brazilian federal judge who is also a Ph.D. candidate laser-focused on artificial intelligence and the future administration of justice. That will be an interesting discussion. Then we have some speakers who are graduate students, so it will be a great mix of persons with very good and interesting diverse perspectives.

I invite everyone to tune in. It will be a lot of information delivered in a manner that is easy to follow.

AYUSHI KHEMKA: Thank you so much, Cordel, for that quick yet detailed preview of what the conference and what the podcast are going to be like. I'm sure our listeners are going to benefit a lot from that.

That was Cordel Green on AI and IA. Stay tuned with us for the next few weeks as we take you through the world of all things AI and how to make information accessible to everyone. We have a fab lineup planned, so keep listening and share it with your friends. While you are here, don't forget to sign up for our conference. You can tweet to us at @CarnegieCouncil and check out more stuff on AI at www.ai4society.ca and www.ualberta.ca/kule-institute.