GBS/EX/LBH/2019/05
International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and
Education
Planning Education in the AI Era: Lead the Leap
(16-18 May 2019)
Opening Remarks
H.E. Ambassador LEE Byong-Hyun Chairperson of the Executive Board
Beijing Hotel
Beijing, People’s Republic of China
16 May 2019
1
GBS/EX/LBH/2019/05
Her Excellency Mrs. SUN Chunlan, Vice-Premier of China,
His Excellency Mr. CHEN Baosheng, Minister of Education of China,
His Execllency Mr. CHEN Jining, Mayor of Beijing Municipal People’s Government, Ministers and Senior Government officials from around the world,
Ms. Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO, Your Excellencies,
Distinguished panelists, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am very honoured to be here today at the opening ceremony of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Education.
This is a grand meeting.
The next three days will be filled with exchanges and debates between honourable Ministers and senior government representatives from more than 100 countries; representatives from more than 10 private sector companies; international and regional organizations; youth leaders, scholars, and innovators. It is the fruit of the partnership, cooperation and hard work between Government of China, led by its Ministry of Education; Beijing Municipal People’s Government, the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO and UNESCO. I am also very heartened by the generous support from the private sector, namely, the Weidong Cloud Education Group and the TAL Education Group.
In my capacity as the Chairperson of the Executive Board of UNESCO, I would like to express my deep appreciation to the government of the People’s Republic of China for having organized this very timely Conference together with UNESCO.
This large gathering is a demonstration of the desire and willingness of stakeholders of different domains – public, private, academia andcivil society – to be engaged in dialogue and debate on the very exciting but challenging theme of Artificial Intelligence.
Big data, Internet of Things, machine learning, are all closely linked with Artificial Intelligence and they are already in our lives in many forms - in our banking, in our health systems, and through our smart phones! As we know it, Artificial Intelligence has great potential to bring new opportunities to humankind on a scale that is not yet graspable. But, as technologies advance and become more complex, the challenges, including the ethical dimensions also become more complex.
UNESCO understands that Artificial Intelligence is an area that requires the trust and confidence of people. Over the past few years, UNESCO and its Member States have been actively engaged in bringing together different stakeholders to exchange and debate on this issue. There have been several seminars and debates organized in Paris, including as part of the ‘Internet Governance Forum’ in November 2018. UNESCO also organized a ‘Forum on AI in Africa’ in Morocco in December 2018. This Forum called for the development of an AI strategy for Africa and for an AI that is focused on human dimension. Early this year, as part of UNESCO’s flagship annual Mobile Learning Week, a global conference brought together diverse stakeholders from around the world to discuss the Principles of Artificial Intelligence.
Today’s Conference is a very welcome platform for the global community to delve deeper into a crucial aspect of human development and one of the core mandates of UNESCO – education and the impact that Artificial Intelligence has and will continue to have on it.
At its most recent meeting that was held last month, the Executive Board of UNESCO, consisting of 58 Member States, also discussed the many dimensions of UNESCO’s engagement in the field of AI. We welcomed the proposal for a category 2 center for international research on artificial intelligence in Slovenia. UNESCO looks forward to the work
2
GBS/EX/LBH/2019/05
of this Centre in promoting research and the development of products and services using AI through the lens of social interest. I am happy to recognize here today the Minister of Education of Slovenia who has been a strong supporter of this Centre.
The Executive Board of UNESCO also has also given green light for the Organization to consider the establishment of a standard-setting instrument on the ethics of artificial intelligence, based on intergovernmental consultations.
And finally, the Executive Board showed great interest in today’s Conference on AI and Education, and expressed its gratitude to the Government of China for its support and generous contribution in organizing this multi-stakeholder dialogue. The Executive Board and the Member States of UNESCO will pay close attention to the outcome document to be adopted this Saturday.
UNESCO is already engaged in the topic of AI in a wide variety of ways, through both the Member States and the Secretariat. The Member States of UNESCO have high expectations for UNESCO to continue providing global platforms for future debates on Artificial Intelligence – not a technical debate, but exchanges like the one of today on AI’s influence on education and human development. Because together, we have the responsibility of ensuring that AI works for humanity, not against it.
With these words, I would like to wish a very successful conference, filled with lively exchanges and mutual learning!
Thank you very much.
