Several robots appeared as panelists at the UN-driven AI for Good summit in Switzerland
Photo: © ITU/D.Woldu AI for Good Global Summit 2023 Exhibitions via @UN / Twitter
The AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva on July 6-7, 2023, aims at accelerating the world’s achievement of the 2030 targets of the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Fifty-one robots, nine of which were humanoid, were part of the event.
The summit was organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN information and communication technologies agency. The ITU showcased a variety of new technologies. The 51 robots were part of the “Robotics for Good” exhibition and several were speakers at the summit.
UN News noted that the robots were “equipped to help people with functions in line with the SDGs”. For instance, healthcare robots can understand emotions and show empathy. Grace, an advanced nursing humanoid robot developed by Hanson Robotics and SingularityNET, already accompanies elderly people.
July 8 will see a first-of-its-kind press conference where journalists pose questions to an all-robot panel.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed interacted with Sophia, the most advanced humanoid robot, at the event.
ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin also interacted with the robots at the summit. She wrote: “The SDGs are regrettably failing — and AI can help rescue them before it’s too late.” She also said, “Many of our questions on AI have no answers yet.”
Other robots at the event are non-humanoid and can perform repair operations, tutor and recycle.
There are over 3,000 in-person participants from 183 countries at the conference, including representatives from Amazon and Google.
There are discussions on forming guardrails to ensure the safe and equitable expansion of AI use. The summit also has human-robot rock jam performances.
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