(e.g. breaching of plane-tary guard rails, digital authoritarianism, further power gains by large digital corporations

Karl Polanyi, Émile Durkheim and Max Weber also teach us that standards and values can ultimately only be anchored in societies

Adam Smith, who was not only an economist but also a moral philosopher – a fact that is often for-gotten – argued in his ‘Wealth of Nations’ (1776) that markets and radical change could only function without destabilizing societies if the autonomy of market dynamics were constrained by the norms and values of societies.

in the digital Anthropocene, humans create tools with which they can now fundamentally transform themselves through ever closer human-machine cooperation using digital-ized technology and an ever closer interaction with AI, right up to the technological dystopias of ‘human enhancement’, a technologically supported optimiza-tion of the human being.

Autonomous technical systems that make independent decisions based on data are already being used in industry to control production processes,

our view of what it means to be human, the economy, labour markets, learning processes, our knowledge, our dealings with technology, society and nature.

Networking can increase the vulnerability of interdependent infra-structures and processes

which were hardly taken into consideration by the architects of the 2030 Agenda

Fake news, social credit scores, the erosion of civilization standards on the internet, the loss of confidence in data-driven services, govern-ments’ problems in properly taxing companies operat-ing in the digital sphere, politicians who seem over-taxed by the demands of accelerated digitalization – all these are just some of the pathological effects of unchecked developments.

echnical inno-vation surges do not automatically translate into sus-tainability transformations, but must be closely cou-pled with sustainability guidelines and policies.

no technological determination per se for the major chal-lenges facing humankind.

a digitally driven sustainabil-ity transformation

Decarbonization, a cir-cular economy, more environmentally friendly agricul-ture, resource efficiency and emissions reductions, and the monitoring and protection of ecosystems

combine digitali-zation, planetary guard rails and social cohesion

linked with the great sustainability challenges of the Anthropocene.

the opportunities and risks of algorithm-based decision-making processes, or the interlinkage between our physical world and virtual spaces.

a massive impact on all 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda.

International agreements that call for transformations towards sustainability now exist due to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda with its 17 SDGs (2015), the Paris Climate Agreement (2015) and the Aichi targets for biodiversity (2010)

he planetary guard rails and can offer all people, including future generations, a good life in dignity and a long-term future

the Great Transfor-mation towards Sustainability

The protec-tion of human dignity is the ultimate challenge in this context.

mastering the present-day ecological and social challenges

no irreversible decisions

the areas of research and development and in multilateral polic

the future of humankind in the post-industrial age in a democratic way that is ori-ented towards the common good.

the current challen-ges of digitalization be contained by regulation

an opti-mistic point of view,

since the Neolithic Age has evidently been self-organized and directed toward substituting and transcending human (physio-logical, manual and cognitive) capabilities, can the cre-ation of a new entity by humans not be seen as the next, perhaps inevitable leap in planetary evolution?

a general moratorium that would fundamentally prohibit R&D efforts to create conscious and therefore sentient systems.

on what ontological quality

whether animate artificial entities with independent deci-sion-making and reproductive capabilities could be formed in a later phase of the digital revolution

in the East Asian cultural sphere than in Western societies, for example, and promotes a world view that does not categorically isolate humans from nature and technology.

he more diverse and intimate will be the points of contact, interfaces and hinges between tech-nology and people.

this would delin-eate a ‘soft’ vision of societal progress.

to capacities that are not directly cognitive; these are often referred to collec-tively as emotional and social intelligence

n some areas AI far surpasses the cognitive performance of our species.

the development of universal AI will succeed

belongs to the science-based deliberation culture of an open democratic society

between hope, horror and hype

Neolithic humans were probably weaker and more susceptible to disease than their early ancestors.

in the tradition of the Enlightenment and huma-nism that seems appropriate. A Europe acting jointly could introduce this into the global negotiations and set an example together with like-minded state

The contemporary ‘American model’ largely refrains from regulatory intervention and relies on market forces to ultimately guarantee the maximiza-tion of the common good. By contrast, the contempo-rary ‘Chinese model’ relies on hierarchical planning and a command economy, at least in areas of strategic natio-nal importance.

t has also made mechanized killing possi-ble in countless regional conflicts and two world wars.

in addition to printing Bibles, leaflets were produced predominantly to sow hatred, paving the way for the terrible religious wars in Germany

exacerbating existing non-sustainable trends such as the overuse of natural resources and growing social inequality in many countries

Sustainability is not the primary purpose of digital progress in these contexts; the dominant aspects are entertainment, convenience, security and, not least, short-term financial gain.

There is no lack of rhetorical references, especially by applying the term ‘smart’ to every subsystem of industrial society that needs to be transformed in a climate-friendly way: smart grids, smart cities, climate-smart agriculture, etc.

However, what is needed is a holistic approach in order to avoid ‘not seeing the wood for the trees’, to recog-nize side effects, and to close loops.

for the first time explicitly discussing the significance of this uto-pia/dystopia for the great issues of sustainability.

the digital revolution that is now taking place, certain cognitive achievements of our spe-cies – the only one of many millions of species on Earth with technical intelligence – will eventually be replaced or far surpassed.

he Industrial Revolution, humankind’s manual skills were increased a hundredfold through mechanization and fossil fuels.

In the first case, known as the Neolithic Revolution, Homo sapiens’ metabol-ic-physiological potential soared as a result of plant management and animal husbandry

The rather nebulous term ‘digitalization’

on the one hand the growing threat to humanity’s natural life-support systems, and on the other the explosive advances in the field of information and communication technologies.

Understanding the Digital Ag

preserving what evolution had yielded until the Earth’s entry into the Anthropocene period, and with the conceivable creation of new digital entities or even the possible substitution of human intelligence by machine intelli-gence.

to take a holistic approach to digitalization in the context of the sustainable development of our civili-zation, which is under threat from many sides – an approach that has been missing up to now.

Although in general the distinction between correlation and causality is of great im-portance, e.g. with regard to algorithmic decision making, it has received surprisingly little attention in the literature on deep learning, apart from a few exceptions (Marcus, 2018). This could be due to the fact that what machines learn there are particularly highly complex correlations.

Research into ‘explainable AI’ is somewhat more advanced, but also still in its initial phase. It is aimed at methods for creating transparency in deep learning, which has so far often been regarded and applied as a ‘black box’ (Box 3.3.3-2).

The precautionary principle relating to risk (Article 191 (2) of the TFEU; 8.4.2.1) requires that both the societal consequences of sustainability transformation and the societal effects of digitalization be taken into account. It also requires that the ability of society as a whole to cope with structural change and to build resilience should be promoted.

impact assessments are also playing an increasingly key role, whether with a view to data protection, environmental impacts or other risks

Social- science-oriented risk assessment

Pre-caution can also lead to procedural safeguards, such as participation rights for societal groups and the trans-parency of official decisions, or making it possible to trace the potential cause of danger in order to prepare for subsequent state action (Calliess, 2013)

The precaution-ary principle obliges the states to exercise preventive and planned governance (Kloepfer, 2016), use all accessible sources of knowledge, conduct a risk com-parison and justify risk decisions (Schlacke, 2019).

to ensure a level playing field so that new entrants do not encounter undue barriers.

data is generating scale and network effects

for reasons of cybersecurity, decentralised, networked data spaces and data collaboration are also preferable to central 'super-infrastructures'.

maybe optimally tailored to the needs of individual regions

data markets, data platforms,or digital twins.

a “data collaboration arrangement”

achieved through reliable andtrustworthydata spaces at the national and international level, designed according to the basic principles of digital self-determination.

Data collaboration should create new possibilities for the use of data and serve to improve services at the local and regional level.

to transfer their own data efficiently to other service providers.

They can access all data relevant to their decisions and assess the validity and potential value of that data.

allows for transparency in the collection, use and processing of data and incorporates a clearly defined purpose and traceability of third-party access to such data.

technical interoperability as well as compliance with the basic principles of digital self-determination and respective rules in data traffic

standards and agreements

an international network that represents the basic principles of digital self-determination

o allow local data infrastructures to grow together and form interoperable regional, national and transnationaldata spaces.

Similar to digitalself-determination, Japan has put the issue of trust at the center of its initiative

all health data iskept within the framework of FINDATA, the national data agency, and can now be usedfor research purposes under the Act on Secondary Use of Health and Social Data.

through a corporate digital responsibility initiative.

data trustees.

In Germany, digital self-determination is strengthened within the framework of improved educational opportunities and ethical guidelines

to create cross-border data spaces

the digital sovereignty

enhance the common good?

2.Key questionsthat we are working on1.How can we enable citizens to:get control over their personal data and use it effectively?have confidence that their data will not be misused and that the data collected will not be used to manipulate their behaviour? collect more data relevant for a community and society and exchange it voluntarily allowing the creation of innovative applications and new business models?2.What are the governance structures for data spaces......that are able to create trust fostering the creation and sharing of data? ...that are based on cooperative, decentralised models?...that provide maximum effectiveness at minimum cost?...that allow for creating a new digital ecosystem, which gives a better balance between the interests of individuals, businesses, society and the public sector?3.How can we

a better balance between the interests of individuals, businesses, society and the public sector?

the governance structures for data spaces

relevant for a community and society

will not be misused

get control over their personal data

that strengthen the economy, digital sovereignty, collaboration, and local communities.

Greater trust will allow more high-quality data to be generated and exchanged.

mobility and tourism, health, education, and energy

a sustainable data society

theyunderstand the relevance of this data, its potentialvalue andthe opportunities for its re-use.

havecontrol of and access to the data they have provided or to data that is relevant for their decision-making.

trustworthy data spaces

as a way of enhancingtrust

In the context of the COVID-19 crisisfor example, this trust is a prerequisite for thebroad acceptance of tracing applications and thus for their effectiveness.

Allowing individuals to operate in the digital space in a self-determined way may strengthen democratic processes, increase welfare and open up new economic opportunities.

if citizens feel that their data is being collected, analysed and passed on to third parties without their knowledge or control

whilst often being unable to control or enjoy the benefits of the growing “datafication”

Some may be anchored in hard or soft law while others may involve a mix of binding, non-binding and self-regulatory elements.

All while new risks and vulnerabilities relevant to the technologies and how they may be exploited in conflict continue to emerge.

Monitoring online activity, machine learning algorithms will be able to anticipate potential crises.

The ability to simulate conflicts through digital (machine learning, simulation) techniques will allow actors to create plausible scenarios and to take part in joint problem-solving exercises or use modelling as a tool for both conflict prevention and resolution efforts

To date, modelling falls short of offering explanations and culturally sensitive understandings of conflict and the actors involved that are critical to then shaping strategies for engagement.

Computational social scientists have begun to simulate conflicts on local and regional levels using agent-based models in order to develop more complex early warning systems.

The bigger the societal reliance on the uninterrupted, trustworthy operation of digital technologies for essential services and other functions deemed crucial to our collective well-being, the higher the disruptive potential.

Our institutions developed forms of feedback which systematically ignore feedback from ecological systems.

the Holocene represents the only state of the Earth system we know for sure that can support human civilisation

the long-established juxtaposition of nature and culture.

five narratives of the Anthropocene:

Narratives enable us to create orientation and meaning in a highly complex or even chaotic world.

but understanding what good means is just as important as learning how to endow AI with the right kind of values and goals.

where AI does all the work on our behalf and we become free to enjoy the cosiness of a pet’s life — so inherently repugnant?

umility be prioritised over courage?

Firstly, if we were somehow able to solve the alignment problem and instill in AI exactly the kind of goals and values that we wish, what would these be?

The Enlightenment ethos is imploding on its own success and there is need for an Enlightenment 2.0 or perhaps a totally new ethos.

between the Transhumanists, who emphasise continuing evolution by technological means, and advocates for the SDGs and work on the principles of A.I., whose emphasis is upon an inclusive future.

“I am a pessimist of intelligence, but an optimist of will.”

I think what these two layers lack is a third floor, an institutional floor. What is missing is a kind of UN of technologies. I do not clearly have the solution

The degree of satisfaction that digital technology brings is so high that it actually prevents any criticism. If we look at great societal changes historically, they were made when people were suffering. (

Is the same thing going to happen with our capacity for action and our capacity for decision? Or does this facilitation, on the contrary, free our minds for the most important topics?

use their GPS extensively can gradually lose their sense of orientation.

human agency, the capacity for action and free will.

In Japan, there is a term for it that, pathologically, those who no longer live only in technology or go out no longer. It could become a pretty common lifestyle model, but one that, in my opinion, does not allow the complete emergence of the person, and will not result in completely structured humans.

From the moment that technology blocks or transforms the relation with the other, it will transform me.

The human person is defined by interactions with others:

what Jürgen Habermas referred to as a delegitimisation crisis where the public loses faith in its governments and its institutions to solve their problems.

What counts as knowledge? Is there a prevailing scientific narrative and scientific framings that at times runs roughshod over other forms of knowledge?

Are the ontological categories we have helpful, or do we need to be thinking in new ontological categories?

that this augmentation goes hand in hand with the attenuation, if not the disappearance, of a set of cognitive or motivational capacities which play a major role in the interactions of a human being with the world and with his kind.

Learning is a process of self-transformation, which is necessary for the human body to adapt to its environment. If this process no longer existed, what would be the consequences?

Obeying machines makes us obedient machines.

Not just an intermediary who helps us. It becomes compulsory mediation.

The great thinkers of technology like Marx or Hannah Arendt, described the tools as being an intermediary between me and nature. Something that prolongs my body. A little later with people like Jacques Ellul, for example, we think of technique as a system. For Leroi-Gourhan, paleontologist, it was an environment.

his dispositions and his aptitudes, precisely the search for meaning, imagination, spontaneous creativity.

These questions of meaning are extraordinarily important to humans in general and they are simply not reducible to calculation.

The summary of a story is not a question of calculating words, or of identifying the number of occurrences of words. It is a question of being able to give a meaning to a narrative sequence of events, and that is something totally different

I think that if we retuned our astonishment a bit we would get another image, maybe humbler on the side of artificial intelligence and more admiration of human intelligence.

the question really arises of the distinction between man and machine

the question of distinction between man and animal.

The great thinkers of technology like Marx or Hannah Arendt, described the tools as being an intermediary between me and nature. Something that prolongs my body. A little later with people like Jacques Ellul, for example, we think of technique as a system. For Leroi-Gourhan, paleontologist, it was an environment. […]

Questions of meaning are so important for childhood. These questions of meaning are extraordinarily important to humans in general and they are simply not reducible to calculation.

“For Press Diplomacy, as well as other settings that mix cooperation and competition, you need progress,” Bachrach says, “in terms of theory of mind, how they can communicate with others about their preferences or goals or plans. And, one step further, you can look at the institutions of multiple agents that human society has. All of this work is super exciting, but these are early days.”

because games that combine competition and cooperation are much more realistic than purely competitive games like Go.

in combining reinforcement learning and search,

Brown says the most surprising finding was that their method could find equilibria, a computationally difficult task.

“This is the first bot that’s demonstrated to be competitive with humans,” says Adam Lerer, a computer scientist at Facebook and paper co-author.

A strategy consists not of a single best move but a set of probabilities across 50 likely moves (suggested by the net), to avoid being too predictable to opponents. 

But instead of adding reinforcement learning, they added search—the techniques of taking extra time to plan ahead and reason about what every player is likely to do next.

“The message of our paper is: we can make reinforcement learning work in such an environment,” Tacchetti says.

reinforcement-learning algorithm.

A social media poster – These types of plugins automate the social posting process. For example, you might have it automatically share your older blog posts to Twitter. Followers benefit since you’re always sharing content, and you don’t have to work as much.

There are, essentially, three main types of commercial white papers:

to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision.

ly, vaccine development diplomacy r

In the spirit of Davos, the Open Forum aims to stimulate dialogue among thought leaders on issues ranging from current political structures and geopolitical concerns to environmental problems, leadership challenges and the role of the arts in society.

criticism abo

An open doors event to coincide with the 2022 World Economic Forum in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos has been called off due to threats.

South Africa sees 'steep rise in infections' since Omicron first detected

to make decisions related to AI systems as per the rule of law and in line with international law and standards, including in the use of AI systems in their deliberations

by appropriate oversight authorities, including independent data protection authorities, sectoral oversight and public bodies responsible for oversight

a network of independent AI Ethics Officers t

in their AI governance and to consider adding the role of an independent AI Ethics Officer or some other mechanism to oversee ethical impact assessment,

public authorities should carry out transparent self-assessment of existing and proposed AI systems

Such mechanisms and actions should include remediation mechanisms provided by private and public sector companies.

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to consider forms of soft governance such as a certification mechanism for AI systems and the mutual recognition of their certification,

include aspects of anticipation, and effective protection

aspects of anticipation, and effective protection,

impact assessments

Ethical impact assessments should be transparent and open to the public, where appropriate. Such assessments should also be multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder, multicultural, pluralistic and inclusive. The public authorities should be required to monitor the AI systems implemented and/or deployed by those authorities by introducing appropriate mechanisms and tools

oversight mechanisms, including auditability, traceability and explainability,

private sector companies and civil society should investigate the sociological and psychological effects of AI-based recommendations on humans in their decision-making autonomy.

The adoption of open standards and interoperability to facilitate collaboration should be in place.

Stakeholders include but are not limited to governments, intergovernmental organizations, the technical community, civil society, researchers and academia, media, education, policy-makers, private sector companies, human rights institutions and equality bodies, anti-discrimination monitoring bodies, and groups for youth and children.

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40

38.

35.

sustainable, privacy-protective data access frameworks that foster better training and validation of AI models utilizing quality data

AI systems should not be used for social scoring or mass surveillance purposes

to the interconnectedness of all living creatures with each other and with the natural environment.

to ensure peaceful and just societies,

the unsustainable exploitation, use and transformation of natural resources

carbon footprint,

the environmental impact of AI systems

12

ethical deliberation, due diligence and impact assessment

use of social dialogue

a contextual assessment will be necessary to manage potential tensions, taking into account the principle of proportionality

Values play a powerful role as motivating ideals in shaping policy measures and legal norms. While the set of values outlined below thus inspires desirable behaviour and represents the foundations of principles, the principles unpack the values underlying them more concretely so that the values can be more easily operationalized in policy statements and actions

AI systems could challenge humans’ special sense of experience and agency, raising additional concerns about, inter alia, human self-understanding, social, cultural and environmental interaction, autonomy, agency, worth and dignity.