The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) organized, on January 25, 2024 at its headquarters in Tunis, a Study Day on “Artificial Intelligence Between Ethics and Law”, in partnership with the Arab Information and Communication Technologies Organization (AICTO) and the “Conflict Resolution and Implementation Methods” Research Laboratory at the Faculty of Law and Political Science in Tunis (University of Tunis El-Manar).
The Study Day was designed to shed light on recent developments and transformations in the world of Artificial Intelligence, including machine learning techniques and deep neural networks, and their impacts from an ethical, legal, and economic perspective. It offered participants an opportunity to address the interaction of this new technology with existing legal systems, and to discuss the future of artificial intelligence and the way to develop Arab legislation and policies to ensure its safe and responsible use.
In his opening remarks, H.E. Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO, stressed that ALECSO took the initiative, jointly with its partners and with international and regional organizations and specialized institutions, to facilitate the localization of modern technology in some Arab countries, given the multiple opportunities that these technologies provide in various fields, including business, healthcare, education and transport. With Artificial Intelligence, he added, a positive change can be made in many aspects of life through the use of data, analytics and machine learning. The safe and responsible use of this technology can also help achieve sustainable progress and improve quality of life for individuals and societies. He insisted, in this regard, on the need to develop ethical guidelines and policies for the use of artificial intelligence.
A keynote presentation was made by Dr. Taoufik Jelassi, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information at UNESCO, in which he highlighted the significant evolution of Artificial Intelligence throughout the world and at the level of human rights and freedom of expression, as well as the opportunities it offers in terms of social, economic and human development, including in education, training and scientific research. He touched on the legal and ethical aspects associated with Artificial Intelligence, and reviewed the groundbreaking projects and initiatives implemented by UNESCO in this regard.
For his part, Dr. Mohamed Jemni, Director of ICT Department at ALECSO, offered a presentation on the ethics of artificial intelligence and the ways to prevent AI-related risks. He also reviewed ALECSO’s efforts towards developing an Arab Charter for AI Ethics.
Discussions centered on the necessity to develop a set of legal and ethical mechanisms to regulate the use of artificial intelligence, and on the need for Arab countries to unite their efforts in order to create an institutional framework for joint action in this regard.
