Indian experts join UN’s new AI advisory body

A distinguished group of technology experts from India has been appointed to a newly established global advisory body by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The High-Level Multistakeholder Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence (AI), unveiled by Guterres, comprises individuals with expertise spanning government, private sector, research, civil society, and academia.

Its primary objectives include fostering a worldwide scientific consensus on the risks and challenges associated with AI, facilitating the use of AI for achieving Sustainable Development Goals, and reinforcing international collaboration on AI governance.

Notable members of this advisory body include Amandeep Singh Gill, who serves as the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology; Sharad Sharma, the Co-founder of iSPIRT Foundation, a non-profit technology think tank known for conceptualising initiatives like India Stack and Health Stack; and Nazneen Rajani, the Lead Researcher at Hugging Face, India.

According to Guterres, AI holds immense potential to drive remarkable advancements for humanity, amplifying the efforts of governments, civil society, and the United Nations. He believes that AI could pave the way for bypassing outdated technologies, enabling services to reach those with greater needs in developing economies.

Before assuming the role of Secretary General’s Envoy on Technology, Gill served as the CEO of the International Digital Health and AI Research Collaborative project. Sharma, in addition to Co-founding iSPIRT Foundation, was a key figure in Teltier Technologies, a wireless infrastructure startup that is now part of CISCO. Dr Rajani, a research expert at Hugging Face, specialises in AI Safety and Alignment, utilising techniques like Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF). She obtained her Doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin, focusing on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and the interpretability of Machine Learning models.