Reports by Related Institutions
The AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park Asked the Wrong Questions
The control of AI largely rests in the hands of a few major commercial entities
By Reijer Passchier
December 2023
Summary:
The 2023 summit at Bletchley Park, attended by key figures across politics, science, and technology sectors, aimed to address the risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI), focusing on disinformation, cyber attacks, and the potential for AI to surpass a critical "frontier" posing existential threats. However, the discussions missed addressing the core issue: the control of AI largely rests in the hands of a few major commercial entities, with a small group of individuals wielding significant influence over its development and application.
This situation raises questions about the societal structure that allowed such a concentration of technological power. The root cause can be traced back to the establishment of modern property rights and the creation of private corporations, which have historically enabled the concentration of technological ownership and control. This has been exacerbated by globalization, allowing multinational corporations to maneuver across borders to evade regulation, thus undermining democracy and public interest.
The advent of digitalization and the inherent "network effects" have further solidified the dominance of these mega-corporations, making them more mobile and capable of evading legislation, while increasing society's dependency on their technologies. This has led to a situation where attempts at tech regulation might actually exacerbate the issue, favoring these giants while disadvantaging smaller competitors.
The crux of the AI problem lies not in the technology itself but in the societal inequality it reflects and exacerbates. Addressing this requires rethinking legal frameworks around property rights, corporate responsibility, and international law to prioritize public interest, democracy, and constitutionalism. Until governments and societal actors reduce their dependency on major tech corporations, AI's benefits will remain skewed towards a select few, leaving broader societal interests at risk.
Restructuring the Socialization of Ukraine’s Population Under Instability and in Post-Stabilization Period
Since 2022 the war has caused large-scale instability in Ukraine in most, if not all spheres of society, state and population
By Heyets V. M.
December 2023
Summary:
Heyets – leading scholar of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, discusses the impact of the 2022—2023 war on Ukrainian society, highlighting the significant transformations in cultural and social aspects due to the conflict. The war has led to instability across various spheres, but it has also spurred a notable shift in cultural features, such as a decrease in individualism and a rise in trust towards the government.
Valeriy Heyets, Viktoriia Blyzniuk and Olena Nykyforuk published already in 2022 a study in the International Journal of Social Quality about the post-war recovery of Ukraine, explaining that the ‘social quality perspective’ may deliver an interesting frame of reference for herewith related processes in four societal dimensions: sociopolitical/legal, socioeconomic/financial, sociocultural/welfare and socioenvironmental/ecological dimensions. The present article may be understood in connection with this previous article.
The study aims to explore the pre-war contradictions, decreased trust in government, and strategies for post-war recovery. Utilizing statistical data, sociological surveys, and various research methods, the author examines sociopolitical, socioeconomic as well as sociocultural policies that could foster socialization and long-term progress in a post-war setting.
The findings suggest that promoting individual economic activities can counter the "culture of poverty" and support recovery by expanding societal bases and motivating individuals to fulfill their needs.
This approach emphasizes the importance of aligning personal and public interests to achieve societal satisfaction and economic well-being.
The New Normal. Elements of a New structural and widespread Precariousness
Social precarity has negative consequences for individuals and society. Policymakers have to take action to address this problem.
By several others
March 2023
Summary:
The 2023 SUPI Report on Social Precarity in the European Union finds that the problem of social precarity is continuing to grow, with millions of people across the continent lacking the security and stability they need to live fulfilling lives.
Researchers identify a number of factors that are contributing to this trend, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and rising inflation. These factors are leading to increased poverty, unemployment, precarious employment, and housing insecurity.
Researchers also find that social precarity has a number of negative consequences for individuals and society as a whole. It is leading to poor physical and mental health, social exclusion, and poverty. It is also having a negative impact on the economy, as it is leading to lower productivity, higher absenteeism, and increased social unrest.
The report concludes by calling on policymakers to take concrete action to address the problem of social precarity. It recommends investing in social protection systems, promoting quality employment, providing affordable housing, tackling poverty and inequality, and strengthening social cohesion and solidarity.
COVID-19 - A Journey into Social Precarity - Social Uncertainty Precarity Inequality (SUPI)
Social precarity is a growing problem, with negative consequences for individuals and society.
By several others
January 2022
Summary:
Social precarity is a widespread and growing problem in the European Union, affecting millions of people. It is defined as the lack of security and stability in people's lives, and can be caused by a variety of factors, including poverty, unemployment, precarious employment, and housing insecurity.
Social precarity has a number of negative consequences for individuals and society as a whole. It can lead to poor physical and mental health, social exclusion, poverty, and a negative impact on the economy.
The 2022 SUPI Report on Social Precarity in the European Union makes a number of recommendations for addressing the problem, including:
- Investing in social protection systems to provide people with a basic level of security and stability.
- Promoting quality employment and decent working conditions.
- Providing affordable housing and other essential services.
- Tackling poverty and inequality.
- Strengthening social cohesion and solidarity.
ISS Working Paper No. 665 - Adding human security and human resilience to help advance the SDGs agenda.
A human security perspective is an essential complement to the SDGs Agenda, so its relevance and application have to be discussed.
By Des Gasper, Richard Jolly, Gabriele Koehler, Tamara Kool & Mara Simane
November 2020
Summary:
The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) respond to humanity’s challenge to live humanely, justly, sustainably and in peace on our interconnected globe. Pursuit of the Agenda is inevitably subject to forces that ‘shake and stir’ it. Correspondingly, our analytical frameworks need to be shaken and stirred too, to be more perceptive and responsive to emergent objective threats, subjective fears, and their impacts.
A human security perspective offers an essential complement to the thinking and action underway for the SDGs, because insecurities arise in diverse and fluctuating forms in the daily lives of most people, produced by local, national, international and global forces. The worldwide ‘shake and stir’ triggered by COVID-19 is a reminder of how serious and all-encompassing such disruption can be. A human security perspective should be added in and/or to SDGs planning and implementation, at country level and in multilateral arenas. The perspective can draw together many available tools and stimulate their use focused on recognising and managing threats in people’s daily lives, not least by increasing human resilience.
This paper presents the approach’s rationale, certain components, and its relevance to the SDGs Agenda, then gives two extended case studies: first, from almost 20 years of experience with human security-related thinking and practice in Latvia, and, second, from the COVID19 pandemic and the resulting crises. It concludes with suggestions for UN organizations, governments, and policy researchers.