Ethical AI
What Is Ethical AI?
Sustainability
Addressing Societal Changes: Sustainability
Sustainability practices support and care for environmental and human health, preservation, and balance in every sense.
Whether striving to mitigate global warming or invest in clean energy solutions, it is crucial that world leaders utilize sophisticated technology to align strategies that foster sustainability and social development.
What Are the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
In 2015, the United Nations (UN) introduced the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, laying the framework for 17 interconnected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address global inequities and improve sustainability by 2030.
Such objectives represent “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future,” according to the UN. They are an urgent call to action for all countries to join in global partnership and improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth.
Ambitious campaigns including “Clean Water and Sanitation” and “No Poverty” require careful planning for success. However, without accurate information, policy implementation may be haphazard, and not geared enough to satisfy citizens’ needs.
Real-time insights provide full visibility into people’s day-to-day lives, empowering lawmakers to not only contribute toward SDGs by 2030, but create true, lasting impacts.
Sustainability Trends: How Our Definition of Sustainability Shifts
As institutions and governments push toward climate objectives aiming to limit global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, the adoption of clean, renewable energy will be crucial in the transition away from fossil fuels.
The “Renewables 2021” report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts the world’s capacity to generate electricity from solar panels, wind turbines, and other renewable technologies will accelerate in coming years. Compared to 2020 levels, the IEA projects renewable electricity capacity to increase by 60%, with total offshore wind capacity to more than triple by 2026.
Governments across the world have also committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 or later, along with corporations such as Amazon, Apple, BP, and ExxonMobil pledging to reach net-zero in the next few decades.
Now more than ever, the need for reliable, informed, and contextualized data is clear, whether related to gender equality, climate, or migrant and workers’ rights issues.
However, coronavirus pandemic-fueled unemployment and overall economic losses have been significant, and impacts have not been felt equally.
According to an International Labor Organization (ILO) policy brief, women and refugees have borne the brunt of job loss, underscoring the crisis’ exacerbation of pre-existing inequities. Only 43% of working-age women were expected to be employed in 2021, as opposed to 69% of men, the analysis continues.
Many migrant workers experienced abrupt terminations and delayed wages, among other forms of non-payment, states the ILO’s 2021 “World Employment and Social Outlook.”
Now more than ever, the need for reliable, informed, and contextualized data is clear, whether related to gender equality, climate, or migrant and workers’ rights issues. However, traditional data-gathering methods of commissioning comprehensive reports often take too long to enact timely solutions.
“As the pandemic continues to unfold, and the world moves further off track in meeting the 2030 SDG deadline, timely and high-quality data are more essential than ever,” reads the UN’s “Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021.” “Indeed, data are being widely recognized as strategic assets in building back better and accelerating the implementation of the SDGs.”
Environmental Protection Initiatives
In the midst of new data from scientists warning that climate change is outpacing humans’ ability to adapt, unanimous environmental protection measures are vital, such as drastically slashing greenhouse gas emissions, greater investment in renewable energy, and promoting clean transportation.
The world is currently experiencing some of the worst impacts of climate change, such as the frequency and intensity of extreme weather, irreversible loss of marine ecosystems, reduced food and water security, human physical and mental health, and more.
According to a 2021 IPCC report, the Earth exceeding a 1.5 °C warming by 2100 would create “unavoidable increases in multiple climate hazards and present multiple risks to ecosystems and humans.”
In response to this data, developing nations—the most vulnerable to climate change—are taking action, according to NPR’s series on COP26, the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference. In hopes of preventing severe worldwide climate disruptions that could exacerbate hunger, conflict, and drought, India has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2070, and more than 100 countries are pushing to cut methane emissions.
While the fossil fuels and transportation industries are leading contributors to climate change, the private sector can improve environmental protective measures globally through renewable energy and projects, combating pollution, utilizing clean transportation, eating plant-based diets, and conserving water.
Without unanimous action, the climate crisis will continue to worsen. Especially in the next decade, it is paramount that world leaders leverage available, cutting-edge technology to analyze real-time, structured data, generate actionable insights, and make necessary changes.
Social Risk
Addressing Societal Changes: Social Risk
Utilizing ethical AI can provide world leaders the comprehensive understanding about detrimental factors to human life and wellbeing—also known as social risk.
With data facilitating full visibility into conversations about gender equality, migrant rights, xenophobia, and vaccines, lawmakers can be empowered to proactively mitigate social risk agents.
Gender Equality
Inclusion
When gender disparities and inequalities are permitted to persist, it excludes more than 50% of the population from participating in society.
Historically, the vast majority of leadership positions in governments, multilateral organizations, and companies have been held by men.
Female political leaders exemplify the many benefits of greater societal gender inclusion, among other reasons, since they tend to promote policies that serve women’s needs and better reflect the diversity of the populace. However, as of October 2020, women held the highest position of executive power in just 14 of the 193 United Nations (UN) member states. Additionally, although research demonstrates women-led companies perform better, women make up only 10% of all C-suite executives.
In regards to education, women comprise two-thirds of the global illiterate population (796 million people), as girls are less likely to receive secondary education than their male peers. In the scope of healthcare, research suggests the children of well-educated mothers are less likely to require hospitalization.
To reduce discrimination and create a more equitable world, it is therefore crucial that the public and private sectors address disparities and prioritize gender inclusion.
The Ongoing Struggle
Gender parity continues to be an ongoing, multigenerational struggle, as starkly put by a World Economic Forum report: “None of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children.”
When gender disparities and inequalities are permitted to persist, it excludes more than 50% of the population from participating in society.
Inequality remains so ingrained across global society that closing the gender pay gap will take about a century, and 130 years to reach gender equality within worldwide halls of power.
- More than 129 million girls are out of school, and only half of countries have reached gender parity in primary school, according to UNICEF.
- Girls and women suffer from lack of access to medical care, a situation worse in developing countries.
- Compared to three-quarters of men, only 49% of women are in the workforce, and those employed make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns.
Not surprisingly, the coronavirus pandemic—along with other disruptive events such as climate change, wars, and political upheaval—continues to prey on society’s most vulnerable, and further exacerbate the ignored systemic oppression.
Early Warning Signs of Gender Violence
Emerging data point to an “increase in calls to domestic violence helplines in many countries” since the coronavirus pandemic, states UN Women’s article “The Shadow Pandemic: Violence Against Women During COVID-19.”
While gender violence can happen to anyone, data shows it is especially prevalent against women. Recent analysis from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates “one in three women will experience sexual or physical violence in their lifetime.”
It is, therefore, crucial to detect and monitor early warning signs of gender violence in real time to create actionable solutions—and potentially save lives.
According to a UN Women analysis, women and girls are disproportionately impacted by sexual violence or assault, when a perpetrator forcibly inflicts unconsented sexual contact or behavior on a victim. Around 736 million global women are victims of physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once, and 137 women are killed by a member of their family every day, the analysis continues.
Women, men, and children are also regularly exploited for sexual and labor purposes, known as human trafficking, a modern form of slavery that commodifies human lives. An ILO account finds one in four victims are children, with women comprising 99% of victims in the commercial sex industry.
In its recent factsheet, the World Health Organization (WHO) deemed violence against women a “major public health problem,” with one-third (27%) of women aged 15 to 49 having been subjected to some form of intimate partner violence.
In the midst of what has been branded a “Preventable Pandemic” by the United Nations, it falls on world leaders’ shoulders to utilize modern data technology to detect and monitor early warning signs of gender violence—among other forms of systemic oppression—and create actionable solutions.
Migrant Rights & Xenophobia
Understanding Migrant Needs
COVID-19-related restrictions continue to impact migration trends, underscoring the needs of migrant and refugee populations.
The world is home to more than 280 million migrants—comprising 3.6 percent of the global population.
Migrants’ multifaceted needs are based on factors such as backgrounds, destinations, and goals, but those most pressing typically encompass healthcare, housing, and employment.
This population often faces inadequate healthcare access, with expensive out-of-pocket fees, limited access to health insurance, documentation requirements, inadequate language interpretation services, fear of repercussions due to status, and limited availability of services.
Migrants also tend to have difficulty finding quality living conditions, given all too common housing discrimination, as well as some governments’ legal and administrative restrictions.
Because both countries of origin and host countries stand to benefit from migrant labor, migrants often face inadequate protections, making them susceptible to exploitation and trafficking.
Although governments have long relied on data to understand migration flux and flow, analyzing the true sentiments of those experiencing such uncertainties enables a clear understanding of their needs.
Establishing Migrant Rights
A UN analysis titled "The Human Rights of Migrants" raises serious concerns about human rights protections among the world’s migrant populations, stating "the treatment of individuals as migrants, immigrants and refugees had [historically] been little more than a footnote to many policy debates, governmental consultations and academic reviews."
Through meaningful, reliable data collection and analysis, governments can more completely understand and establish migrant rights.
According to a 2020 UN report, "labor or family migration" was the top reason someone might move from one country to another, followed by humanitarian crises. Yet despite the prevalence of migrants in global populations, they consistently face stressful situations negatively impacting physical and mental health, such as hate speech, violence, and more.
Migrant discrimination has far-reaching consequences, making them feel ostracized or excluded from certain groups, reads an analysis from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
During the 2016 UN General Assembly, governments adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, aiming to protect migrant rights, condemn xenophobia, and support countries to receive "large numbers of refugees and migrants."
Combatting Xenophobia
Xenophobia is characterized by an attitude of hostility toward perceived non-natives in a population, accompanied by feelings of intense hatred, fear, or discrimination.
This harmful worldview fuels racism and perpetuates hate speech and violent crimes, among other prejudices, according to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, a UN blueprint to combat worldwide racism and xenophobia.
Not only it is imperative to criminalize hate speech and hold perpetrators accountable, but to also combat xenophobia with education.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, more than 1 million Ukrainians have fled their homeland, a number projected to grow to 10 million if violence continues, according to Stéphane Dujarric, UN spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
While some world leaders opened borders to allow safe passage for refugees across Europe and elsewhere, there have been other reports of xenophobic treatment toward Black Africans, Indian nationals, Pakistani nationals, and people of Middle Eastern descent seeking safety, according to a statement from UN Special Rapporteur Tendayi Achiume.
Hate speech originates as discriminatory dialogue or behavior based on another’s religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, skin color, descent, or gender, a UN analysis reads.
Times of war or global crises such as the coronavirus pandemic have unearthed and magnified preexisting harmful narratives toward migrants, intensifying “generalized fears and worries that have fed off an existing culture of distrust and discrimination,” according to an IOM brief titled “Countering Xenophobia and Stigma to Foster Social Cohesion in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery.”
Not only it is imperative to criminalize hate speech and hold perpetrators accountable, but to also combat xenophobia with education.
As noted by the UN’s Global Education First Initiative: “It is not enough for education to produce individuals who can read, write and count. Education must fully assume its central role in helping people to forge more just, peaceful, tolerant and inclusive societies.”
This is precisely what the Spanish region of Navarra is seeking, utilizing Citibeats’ machine learning and AI text analytics to analyze hate speech frequency by locality, and generating insights to shape and guide local educational efforts.
Discovering Misinformation
Harmful migration narratives aren’t the only examples of detrimental and false information circulating during the coronavirus pandemic.
Amid remarkable and unprecedented successes in vaccine development, there have been obstacles, which the WHO brands as twin crises—the COVID-19 pandemic and associated infodemic.
According to an analysis by the global public health agency: “An infodemic is an overabundance of information, both online and offline. It includes deliberate attempts to disseminate wrong information to undermine the public health response and advance alternative agendas of groups or individuals.”
While various studies point to the safety, efficacy, and significantly lower death rates associated with coronavirus vaccines, misinformation about them continues to spread that can be harmful to people’s health, increase stigmatization, and ultimately cost lives, the analysis continues.
In response, the WHO passed a resolution in May 2020 to “address mis- and disinformation in the digital sphere, work to prevent harmful cyber activities undermining the health response and support the provision of science-based data to the public.”
The strategy encouraged development of action plans, community outreach, and for social media to prevent misinformation spread, challenging the public to “flatten the infodemic curve.”
In the digital age, anything can be manipulated and subject to misinformation, such as natural disasters, safe places to go, and so much more. Through leveraging contextualized data, communities can paint a clearer picture of populations’ concerns, and empower citizens to find the accurate, timely help they need in real-time crises.
Citibeats Platform
The Citibeats Platform
Our award-winning, language-agnostic platform is THE FIRST AFFORDABLE TOOL TO UNCOVER TRENDS FROM MILLIONS OF VOICES IN REAL TIME, ENABLING YOU TO DETECT AND UNDERSTAND SOCIAL CHANGES FASTER.
By leveraging real-time, exponential data technology, world leaders and governments can proactively approach the plethora of challenges facing the world today—from sustainability and gender equality to migrant rights—and enact meaningful solutions that improve lives.
Citibeats designed Sustainability and Social Risk Monitors—available with a monthly subscription—to quickly address these risks. Empowering clients to listen to and understand millions of voices, the software facilitates a more democratized decision-making process.
“Identifying trends and opportunities in a fast-changing environment is difficult at a time when there is more uncertainty than ever,” explains Ivan Caballero, founder and CEO of Citibeats. “Up to now the only way to get some context is to take a survey, which is like taking a snapshot. By the time you take the picture, it has changed. What we are offering is a ‘video’ that allows an organization to continuously identify shifts in society.”
The Citibeats subscription model is designed to help clients understand citizens’ needs faster and more clearly, leveraging technology, expertise, and data collected over the past four years.