Upskilling in the AI era

At the time when having a constructive dialogue about the issues that matter for the present and future of our societies becomes more difficult every day, preserving multilateralism is paramount. In today’s world, where technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) are as pervasive as fast evolving and transformative, for good and for bad, gathering key stakeholders around the table for them to share experiences, constraints and opportunities is the only effective way to address societal challenges.

Developments, such as the widespread access to large language models such as ChatGPT and their use and abuse in both educational contexts and firms, have contributed to laying bare three stylized facts.

First. The digital world is seamless and knows no boundaries. Country-specific solutions alone can, at best, be partially successful in addressing the challenges and leveraging the opportunities that digital technologies, including AI, may offer. This calls for enhanced multilateral dialogue and coordination, which constituencies like the G20 can enable for solutions to be effective, inclusive, sustainable and societally enhancing. India’s G20 Presidency with the theme of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — One Earth, One Family, One Future” was the ideal platform to bring together the G20 member countries and organizations to work together to help make the world a better place.

Second. Digital technologies and AI can only be as “smart” as the human intelligence that generates and interacts with them. Consequently, living and working in the digital era requires all individuals to be endowed with a relevant bundle of technical and socio-emotional skills and competencies. Technologies like AI, including Generative AI, do not require everyone to be able to make chips or code AI, but all individuals do need to have the skills and competencies to deal with and thrive in a digital and AI-embedded ecosystem and make the most of what AI can offer. In our increasingly digitalized world, people need to learn and be able to decide when to use what, and how. This necessity, in turn, calls for suitably designed and effectively implemented education, training, upskilling and reskilling programmes that empower individuals. With the right skillset, we can ensure people remain the deus ex machina, rather than end up dominated by machines, as some fear.

Third. The era of trying to fix problems ex post only is over. Behaving ethically — and doing so by design — emerges as a must, for the sake of humankind. There is nothing philosophical about being and behaving ethically. It simply, and very concretely, means respecting human rights, human dignity and fundamental freedoms, and ensuring that technology is fair and does not replicate or create biases. This is especially necessary today, as the scale and scope of the digital transformation around us, and the speed at which technological paradigms like AI are evolving, challenge the effectiveness of interventions aimed at fixing problems after they have unfolded. It is a bit like riding a bike after a high-speed train. Sure, part of the distance can be covered, but the bike has virtually no chance at catching the train once it has left the station. And, given the scale of the ramifications that digital and AI systems have, once the vase is broken, so to speak — that is, once damage is done — it may be very difficult if not impossible to glue the pieces back together and repair the situation. Hence, being ethical and responsible by design becomes a must.

The G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting’s outcome document and its statements about enabling development through digital public infrastructure and fostering human capital empowerment represent important steps forward towards a more inclusive future. They underline the willingness of G20 member states to address global challenges in a coordinated fashion, by fostering accessible digital infrastructures and endowing people with the skills needed for them to live, work and thrive in a digitally-embedded world that respects human rights, human dignity and fundamental freedoms.

India along with the 193 Member States of UNESCO adopted the first-ever global standard on AI ethics — the ‘UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence’ in 2021. Since then, UNESCO has developed concrete tools aimed at helping governments reap the benefits of the AI revolution by addressing the ethical issues that AI systems raise. The latter include their impact on decision-making, employment and labour, education, access to information and digital divides, among others. Addressing these issues as well as the others highlighted in the eleven policy areas of the Recommendation, including data policy, would not only help ensure that AI systems are developed, deployed and used for the good of individuals and of societies as a whole, but would also have positive spillovers on the broader digital ecosystem, making it more ethical by design.

With the active help and support of UNESCO as the knowledge partner to the Indian G20 Presidency for the “Digital Skilling” priority of the Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG), we could develop a “Toolkit for Designing and Introducing Digital Upskilling and Reskilling Programs”; as well as the “G20 Roadmap to Facilitate the Cross-Country Comparison of Digital Skills”. Endowing people with the skills needed in the digital era, i.e., empowering human capital, can foster greater and better employment, while at the same time enabling innovation and inclusive economic growth.

The DEMM outcome document recognised India’s proposal to develop a virtual “Centre of Excellence” (CoE), which would be built and maintained by UNESCO. The CoE would act as a repository of good practices on digital skilling initiatives, occupational standards, skill taxonomies, professional certifications, skill credentials, and studies related to demand and supply gaps, especially related to digital skills. This will help foster information exchanges and encourage learning, enabling the creation of a future-ready workforce empowered to thrive in ethical digital economies.

Initiatives such as the CoE will not only help G20 member countries, but any institution or government worldwide aiming at building more inclusive and resilient societies. This will go a long way in helping achieve the goal of creating an enabling, inclusive, open, fair, non-discriminatory, and secure digital economy – as envisaged in the outcome document of the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting.

Mariagrazia Squicciarini is CEO, Social & Human Sciences, UNESCO; and Abhishek Singh is CEO, National e-Governance Division, MEITY, Government of India. Views expressed are personal