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A Future with AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is developing at an exceedingly rapid pace, and it is important that we adopt AI intentionally. Young people today will likely live in a future world in which AI will be pervasive. They deserve a say in what this future will look like.

A Future with AI: Voices of Global Youth report is based on a study conducted between January-March 2022 that included a questionnaire asking youth (10-24) from around the world to share their thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence, as well as an “Imagination Challenge” in which participants submitted a free-form essay about the future of AI.

Two hundred fifty-four youth from 36 countries completed the survey. Forty-seven of the respondents also contributed essays on the future of AI.

Among the report's key findings:

  • the perception of AI and robots among youth is positive (93.2 percent), with slightly more than two-thirds (68 percent) stating they trust AI.
  • about 80 percent said they interact with AI multiple times a day
  • a majority (76.3 percent) thinks that the risks of AI technology are serious, but they can be controlled
  • top concerns mentioned included “unemployment as a result of AI” (75 percent) and “military uses of AI” (74.3 percent)
  • ninety-three percent expressed interest in “discussing AI use and regulation”, while 86 percent “want to collaborate with AI” in the future

The report’s authors conclude that: “To create a future with AI where human wellbeing and happiness take center stage, we must collaborate internationally with young people because they will be the main users of AI in 2050”.

To that end, a virtual conference (invite only) with youth and representatives from industry, academia, governments and the UN will be held in November to discuss how to turn recommendations from youth into action.

 

READ THE FULL REPORT

This project was a collaboration between the United Nations and Waseda University, with support from Open Social.

Contacts

  • Lambert Hogenhout, Chief Data, Analytics and Emerging Technologies (United Nations)
  • Toshie Takahashi, Professor in the School of Culture, Media and Society (Waseda University, Japan)

Youth Quotes

"AI means more than replacing unskilled labor. I envision them more as partners with humans having specialized responsibilities".
—Omkar, age 24, from India
"Some jobs require both humans and AI cooperation in order to be done the right way such as investigations, security, and medical research”.
—Omar, age 16, from Lebanon
"I hope that instead of seeing AI as a threat, we can see it as a friend who helps to keep our information safe and secure”.
—Yoyo, age 17, from China/Canada
"With AI we can find technological innovations that can be used for cleaning the sea such as nanotechnology, drones and satellite images for monitoring cleaning work, robots for surveillance”.
—Vania, age 16, from Peru
"AI has broken that loop and some jobs are going extinct, but with other jobs' extinction, new jobs are getting created”.
—Hussein, age 16, Lebanon