Khodeli underlines UNESCO’s relationship with India
Experts from member countries of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are expected to brainstorm about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) at the Global Summit on AI which will be hosted by India early next year.
“We hope to be working with the (Indian) Government as we start preparing for a Global Summit on AI Impact to be hosted by India early next,” said Irakli Khodeli, Head of Ethics of AI Unit, Social and Human Sciences Sector, UNESCO.
“This is going to be a major event,” he added, expecting countries to come together to talk what they have done already in partnerships with UNESCO and other organizations https://www.bseindia.com/.
“It is time now for action to demonstrate impact – Action, Action and Impact,” he said, pointing out that the time for discussing ethical framework has passed with the recommendation report on AI.
“The event participants will give updates, share experiences and lessons learned,” he added https://www.nseindia.com/.
Khodeli went on, “India is a shining star for the rest of the world in terms of digital transformation and in terms of addressing some of the social economic issues with technological innovation and the right policy,” he said meity.gov.in.
“The world is looking up to India to learn about that – that would be a significant part of the summit as well,” Press Trust of India quoted Khodeli as saying at the Bangkok summit held 24-27 June 2025.
UNESCO, which has 193 countries as members, held the first summit in 2023 in the UK and the second in 2024 in South Korea on AI “Safety”. The event was held in Paris in Feb 2025 on AI “Action”.
He underlined UNESCO’s working relationship with the Indian Government, having been a knowledge partner during India’s G20 Presidency in 2023 http://indiaai.gov.in.
“India has been an important partner of UNESCO in our journey from the very beginning when the AI recommendation was prepared,” Khodeli said at the Third UNESCO Global Forum on the Ethics of AI 2025” which concluded on Jun 27.
The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Recommendation report is a primary instrument adopted four years ago by the 193 UNESCO member countries, and this policy action is universally valid and is to be pursued by everyone.
India played a critical role and had an expert in the 24-member advocate group that prepared the report.
Following the report, UNESCO has deployed another report, “Readiness Assessment Methodology”, for member countries to understand comprehensively AI opportunities and the gaps it would fulfil in order for them to take the full advantage of the revolutionary technology https://sbi.com.in/.
“India is one of the top innovators – both in terms of technology and also in term of policy to govern the technology,” observed Khodeli, underscoring the importance of policy innovation to ensure that the technology is put to the best use for mankind, and create an environment that is conducive to investment and growth.
He went on the note India’s extensive work on technologies and added that UNESCO is capturing those good practices, knowledge and experiences of governance of AI, which is then made available to the rest of the world for replicating such success https://www.makeinindia.com/home/.
In return, UNESCO is also bringing to India what the grouping has learned from the rest of the world, citing the example of the Bangkok Forum where brainstorming sessions were held by close to 50 member countries, represented by senior officials of ministerial levels, he said.
“We are doing the Readiness Assessment with over 70 countries. We are learning a lot about what works to promote AI and what doesn’t work,” he said, adding the experiences and knowledge is shared with members including India.
India is famous for exporting its talent and everybody knows the important part the people of Indian origins play in big tech corporations around the world. “That is something to be very proud of,” he underlined.
Further, he said UNESCO want AI engineers to be thinking about ethics as part of designing the technology, and during various talent trainings, ethical is part of the programmes.
Acknowledging the AI as an incredible breakthrough by humanity, Khodeli felt more work needs to be done to make the technology less resource intensive. Increasing access to AI means more data centres and infrastructure for the ecosystem that is currently resource-intensive, he added.
He called for a balance and parallel development of technology in terms of environment as well as resources as this is technology is predictable and beyond human brain revolution.
“We need to focus on new AI systems that are less resource intensive,” he emphasized, adding, “This transformation of AI is set to continue.” Fiinews.com
