For smallholder farmers, overcoming the digital divide could mean a shift from subsistence to sustainability. Harnessing AI has the potential to unlock new possibilities — boosting productivity, providing better market access, and securing their economic futures in an interconnected world.

Finding emerging climate market opportunities can be challenging. As generative AI moves into the mainstream, Harvard Business School Professor George Serafeim shares how it can transform the way stakeholders and investors unlock new insights to better evaluate a company’s climate solutions, next generation innovation investments, and potential downstream risks and opportunities impacting business performance, human capital, and industry disruption.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Artificial Intelligence seems to be everywhere, from the agenda of world leaders to the limited series-style boardroom drama at OpenAI. Harvard Fellow, Paulo Carvão, discusses the challenges and importance of fair algorithms to ensure responsible and unbiased AI use.

Chris Lewis, CEO of Public Knowledge, answers questions from 2019 ALI Fellow Lisa Macpherson about the current public fascination with generative artificial intelligence, the policy solutions we really need for AI, and the regulation for digital technology that’s way overdue.

Despite promises of efficiency leading to more focus on relationships between and among teachers and students, AI is on track to dramatically worsen student isolation – unless schools reconfigure their organizational models and metrics to elevate, rather than diminish, human relationships.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

One of the biggest barriers to closing the achievement gap is access to tutoring and academic support. Stephanie Sylvestre, a technology executive, explains how generative artificial intelligence (AI), with robust safeguards, user involvement and education, can help bridge gaps in student performance, boost comprehension, and improve emotional well-being.

Mark Medish, co-founder of Keep Our Republic, discusses strategies to protect our democratic electoral operating system — including through "hyper-localized community dialogue."

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Technology and the marketplace have changed substantially in the last three decades, and so must our expectations about the obligations of online platforms. The Supreme Court issued an opinion on Gonzalez v Google that increases the need for congressional action on Section 230 at the same time that generative AI is in front of society highlighting the dilemmas about the ethical use of data and algorithms.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN SOCIAL IMPACT SERIES:

OPINION COMMENTARY:

We are just beginning to understand the transformational potential of digital technology to help solve some of “the world’s most pressing problems.” Chris Lewis of the digital rights organization Public Knowledge calls on social impact leaders to join with academic, civil society, and advocacy groups to grow a movement to build a better internet for all.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN SOCIAL IMPACT SERIES:

Employed with care, artificial intelligence can benefit us. Professor Frederic Lederer proposes a framework to determine AI's usefulness in two areas: predicting future criminal misconduct and developing safer weapons systems for the military.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN SOCIAL IMPACT SERIES:

Dr. Alex Hanna from the Distributed AI Research (DAIR) Institute explains some of the causes of gender and racial bias in AI and discusses using a community- and value-based approach for AI development to improve equity outcomes.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN SOCIAL IMPACT SERIES:

Digital innovation and open-source technology have evolved and matured over the last two decades and are now being applied to various uses beyond their traditional applications to business and industry. In this article, Heifer International’s Product Manager, Antoinette Marie, explores various use cases for technology to address the sustainable development goal of Zero Hunger using a collaborative and multi-stakeholder approach with smallholder farmers.

HUMAN RIGHTS CRISES AND MOVEMENTS AROUND THE WORLD SERIES:

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Ambassador Jeff Bleich and Dr. Bradley Strawser, with great insight and experience in law, public policy, technology and ethics, use autonomous vehicles as a case study of the tension between technological innovation and human rights. They conclude that only by drawing upon the lessons from past technology revolutions can we ensure our technological aspirations align with our human ones.

Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, the path to economic opportunity in the United States has become less clear as workers’ careers have taken increasingly non-traditional routes. Mike Meotti and Drew Magliozzi paint a compelling portrait of how technology can carve new tracks and create new ways of working.

Fundamentally, self-reliance in the twenty-first century is about thinking for yourself and not becoming paralyzed by the data deluge and overwhelming information we suffer through on a daily basis. Vikram Mansharamani discusses ways to harnesses the power of experts and technologies without giving up autonomy.