BOTH - Human rights must be at the core of generative AI technologies, says Türk

Good afternoon,  

It is a pleasure to speak with you today. My warm thanks to the Center for Human Rights and International Justice and all of the co-sponsors of Stanford University who are hosting this event.

It is fitting we are here: this university has long been one of the world’s front runners in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) field. Stanford’s AI Lab, to take just one example, has been spearheading innovative research since 1963.

Clearly, AI itself isn’t new. But we all know that today’s rapid and seismic shifts are presenting challenges none of us have ever encountered before.

We have all heard the dystopian scenario: a world that hurtles towards, almost sleepwalks into self-inflicted tutelage, a vortex of uncontrollable phenomena and possible extinction.

Alternatively, AI could have the potential to unlock the secrets to cure cancer, end global warming, and feed the hungry – the rescue scenario. Yet between these poles of AI killing or saving us is the world of today – where the promise of AI in a wide range of areas is being realized, while unparalleled human rights impacts of advanced AI — including generative AI — are already being felt by vast numbers of people – today.