UN Chronicle - Current Issue

Technological change in the digital era is transformational, but it does not always advance sustainable development or reduce inequality. In some countries today, more people have access to smartphones than access to clean water or adequate sanitation. Over the past three years, the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) have grown, but so has the number of people living in hunger.

Humanity is at a crossroads: we face both the opportunities and challenges of a range of powerful and emerging technologies that will drive radical shifts in the way we live. The accelerated pace at which technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, robotics, automation, advanced materials and quantum computing are developing, is already transforming the systems that we take for granted today. From how we produce and transport goods and services to the way we communicate, collaborate or even elect our governments, rapid technological change—which often happens at an exponential pace—is reshaping how we experience the world around us.

Today we are at the dawn of an age of unprecedented technological change. Sometimes referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, this historic moment has inspired a growing consensus that recent developments in science and technology are of a unique nature, and likely to impact almost every facet of our daily lives.

History is witness that technology creates surprises on the battlefield. However, technology can blindside not only warriors but policymakers as well. The challenge of keeping pace with technology becomes even more formidable when policy is co-constructed in multilateral forums, which by their very nature require the patient buildup of common ground and consensus.

Innovation and the rise of digital technology have forever changed how we work, interact with one another, and create and share information. Innovative technologies are also changing how we, at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), are supporting children and young people around the world.

Standards connect us with reliable modes of communication, codes of practice and frameworks for cooperation. Diverse communities, rich in unique skills and means of production, find mutual benefit in trade and the larger marketplace it creates, but this can only be achieved through the application of common standards. International standards speak to the diversity of our interconnected world, introducing uniformity at the interfaces where we need to be certain that we are all on the same terms.

We stand at the dawn of a new era. The technological revolution is transforming our lives at breakneck speed, dramatically altering the ways in which we work, learn and even live together. Alongside the increasingly sophisticated use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) is undergoing exponential growth and finding new applications in an ever-increasing number of sectors, including security, the environment, research and education, health, culture and trade.

Advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) are driving global changes in our society—from the way we communicate with each other to the forces that shape our economy and behaviour. Insights generated from big data are already transforming many domains. Mobility data from mobile phone networks can reveal the extent of displacement after a disaster and help predict the spread of infectious diseases, while mobile airtime purchases can help track food consumption. Roofing materials visible from space serve as a proxy for poverty, changes in debit card usage indicate the impact of a crisis, and postal records have been used to estimate trade flows. At the same time, the rapidly evolving capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) offer new opportunities to unlock the value of big data for more evidence-based decision-making that can accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have permeated practically all aspects of life. Just a decade ago, in some parts of the globe, prioritizing access to ICTs was considered a luxury. Today, it is widely acknowledged that investing in affordable, universal and unconditional access to ICTs is necessary to drive progress on global priorities, in particular, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Imagine not having your cellphone handy to send a quick message, receive traffic updates, find your doctor’s telephone number, check a map on your way to visit a friend, or make a payment?

Imagine a world with no hunger, where every child attends school and no one dies from a communicable disease. This is not a utopian dream, but rather our collective vision for a society where no one is left behind. It serves as our guiding spirit—our raison d’être—as we work together towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Frontier technologies offer us considerable hope for a sustainable future.

The progressive digitalization of the world has an unprecedented impact on every sphere of our lives. Over the past 20 years, technology has permeated every aspect of modern society, and the use of digital technology, in particular, is becoming an integral part of our everyday lives. Many services and resources are now accessible only through digital means. Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) will also radically transform our lives, including the concept of care of older persons.

We are at a unique moment in history: our society is in transition from an industrial economy to one defined by a new set of technologies, ranging from digitalization to nanotechnology. Among the latest waves of digitalization is blockchain—a technology that many say promises to redefine trust, transparency and inclusion across the world. Blockchain, however, is a relatively immature technology and can create as many problems as it solves. What it has offered so far is a series of key insights into emerging technologies and how we can approach them in a rapidly changing world.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is converging with an extraordinary array of other technologies, from biotech and genomics, to neurotechnology, robotics, cybertechnology and manufacturing systems. Increasingly, these technologies are decentralized, beyond State control, and available to a wide range of actors around the world. While these trends may unlock enormous potential for humankind, the convergence of AI and new technologies also poses unprecedented risks to global security. In particular, they create challenges for the multilateral system and the United Nations, which operate at the inter-State level.

Today there may be no resource as powerful, or as vulnerable, as data. The central role that data sharing plays in contemporary society, ranging from use of social media to accessing administrative services, is accompanied by a high degree of risk. Data sharing on a mass scale and for many purposes in a digitally connected world means that our personal information is increasingly open to attack and misuse. In our online communications and transactions, we risk exposing details about our lives that used to be private as a matter of course. This includes not just financial data that must be kept secure but also information about our location, our friends, families and associates, our political beliefs, our purchases and even our health data. Further, States across the globe are creating digital identity systems that connect to our biometric information, building a bridge from our digital activities to our lives and identity offline. This digital identity may then become the target of exploitation, either for commercial or political ends.

Data is everywhere, constantly being created by humans and machines across the globe. But as half of the world seems to be drowning in data, too many people and places are still invisible in the numbers that drive decisions.

Last year, which marked the sixtieth anniversary of the first artificial satellite in orbit, a record number of orbiting objects were registered with the United Nations, reflecting the growing interest of all types of actors in participating in the frontier field of space exploration and innovation. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), established in 1958, works with Governments and the wider space community across policy, legal and technical capacitybuilding aspects of supporting global activities in the space environment. It also engages actors in discussions on how to best address the fact that space is becoming more congested and contested while offering a growing pool of benefits to humanity.