AI 4 GOOD

AI 4 GOOD was organised on the 28–31 May 2019, in Geneva, Switzerland by ITU (itu.int) in partnership with sister UN agencies, the X-Prize Foundation (xprize.org), and the Association for Computing Machinery (acm.org). The “AI for Space” session hosted inspiring talks from top industry professionals, focusing on areas where AI techniques can be applied to space datasets in order to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also covered the processes, infrastructure and ethical considerations when using this powerful technology to protect our planet and generate benefit for all humankind. The session was joined by Pierre-Philippe Mathieu, Head of Φ-lab Explore office, who presented cutting edge use-cases, methodologies and emerging best practices to delegates, including the fusion of ESA data sets to create enhanced products and ways of working with partners to build consortia to tackle complex challenges such, as the SGDs, using space technology.

The discussion placed emphasis on the potential for AI and space to unlock a new era of planetary stewardship – leveraging AI’s unprecedented capacities for prediction and rapid understanding of complexity on both a local and global scale. The session involved evaluations on the current state of play in AI and Space, barriers to deployment and real-time insight and equitable access to data. It identified projects related to SDGs where AI and Space fields can be combined to deliver a positive benefit to humanity and discussed opportunities for interdisciplinary cooperation to move forward in areas such as data accessibility, trust, algorithmic inequity, and accountability.