In his new book “Our Common AI Future”, Mozilla Fellow Francesco Lapenta creates a road map for AI-driven sustainable development as part of his fellowship with DataEthics.eu.
The premise of this concise but thorough book is that the future, while uncertain and open, is not arbitrary, but the result of a complex series of competing decisions, actors, and events that began in the past, have reached a certain configuration in the present, and will continue to develop into the future. These past and present conditions constitute the basis and origin of future developments that have the potential to shape into a variety of different possible, probable, undesirable or desirable future scenarios. The realisation that these future scenarios cannot be totally arbitrary gives scope to the study of the past, indispensable to fully understand the facts and actors and forces that contributed to the formation of the present, and how certain systems, or dominant models, came to be established (I). The relative openness of future scenarios gives scope to the study of what competing forces and models might exist, their early formation, actors, and initiatives (II) and how they may act as catalysts for alternative theories, models (III and IV) and actions that can influence our future and change its path (V).
“Governments should establish a set of global “Red Lines” to prohibit the development and use of AIs in specific applications that might pose an ethical or existential threat to humanity and the planet. And they should create a set of “Green Zones” for scientific diplomacy and cooperation.”
Francesco Lapenta
Read the executive summary of the book and download the book for free on the landing page.
