The future is here, and it's intelligent! My colleague, Christa Uwamahoro Munezero, Head of Exploration at UNDP Rwanda’s Accelerator Lab, recently shared Bill Gates' thought-provoking piece on AI, which led me to discover that some of our staff are already using AI tools like ChatGPT. 

It's time for the rest of us to catch up and join the conversation on how to use this revolutionary technology ethically and effectively, for the greater good.

It's likely that in the long term, artificial general intelligence (AGI) will be able to make better ethical decisions than humans in most cases. After all, human values are not always optimal, with societal ills such as racism and gender discrimination holding us back. Furthermore, humans are not good at accounting for externalities like environmental degradation and climate change. 

That being said, we need to be cautious not to assume human values will always be superior to AI.

In fact, AI trained on good data is likely to exhibit less bias and greater fairness than humans. However, it's essential to recognize that machines or AI are only as good as the biases we feed them. Many big data AI models simply regurgitate the biases that already exist in current data, which could have severe consequences. For example, imagine AI being used to screen security threats at airports. This could be a nightmare scenario for people of color who already suffer from biases in the criminal justice system.

So, how do we navigate the AI revolution, including tools like ChatGPT and Google's Bard, at UNDP Rwanda? It's crucial to delve deeper into AI's potential, limitations, and the human element it demands.

Consider AI as an electric bike - a powerful tool that helps us reach our destination faster than walking or running. However, it's just a tool that won't determine your direction, purpose, or ethics.

Picture this: AI, a turbocharged electric bike, propels us forward, while we steer with purpose, fairness, and humanity. It's time to embrace this potential and nurture our intellectual muscles., without losing sight of what makes us uniquely human.

At UNDP Rwanda, we are committed to ignite a conversation about AI's role in boosting productivity and achieving our goals as we contribute to the National Development agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. 

If you have not read Bill Gates' piece, find it here: https://www.gatesnotes.com/The-Age-of-AI-Has-Begun