An Open Letter to the Global South: Bring the "Rest" In

Over the past centuries, human society has undergone several transformations. Different technological innovations have permanently changed how we live, how we relate to one another, and how we understand the world. Better tools, steam engines, penicillin, telecommunications, plastic, silicon, computers.

The so-called 4th Industrial Revolution is the culmination of the digital age, where technologies such as robotics, nanotechnology, genetics, and artificial intelligence (AI) promise to transform our world and the way we live.

You don’t need to look far to find autonomous systems interacting with you or the people around you. Your phone likely runs several different kinds of machine-learning-trained models (e.g., language models, computer vision), among other methodologies that fall under the broad, interdisciplinary umbrella we call Artificial Intelligence.

Drones deliver our packages, recommendation algorithms shape and influence our preferences, probabilistic models optimize a variety of processes once reserved solely for human intellect. Self-driving vehicles, protein folding, natural language processing, climate models — every year (or month) a new barrier is overcome.

However elusive and poorly defined “intelligence” may be, more than a few believe we are on our way to creating genuine artificial intelligence. True artificial intelligence.

Intelligence promises to produce some of the most urgent solutions humanity needs. Clean energy sources, cures for diseases, better economic systems. All these solutions are “golden eggs,” and as Ray Solomonoff, one of the founding fathers of the field of artificial intelligence research, once said: the field of AI research is not looking for specific golden eggs. We are after the goose that produces them.

Genuine AI may well be the last invention we ever need to make. And even if the path to artificial general intelligence remains blocked by some unknown barrier, that does not mean narrow AI will not change — as it is already changing — the world in a direction that remains, as the future always is, uncertain.

And this is nothing new.

Many organizations and global actors, anticipating the urgency and importance of this issue, are already taking steps to ensure that this uncertain future is worth it. Given the transformative power of AI, whether for the benefit or detriment of humanity, it is of great importance that we reach a consensus on the norms and guidelines that will regulate such technologies.

From this sense of urgency, several research fields have emerged, such as AI Ethics and AI Safety. Both with their own specific interests and agendas, but with a common overarching goal: to make the interaction between human beings and AI safe and beneficial. To ensure that Artificial Intelligence is created for the good of all.

Technology is neither good nor bad. However, it is not neutral either. Technology, like AI, is what we make of it. So, while using our creations might excuse our mistakes, in a world where models are created, trained, developed, deployed, and used by people, the answer “the data was biased” will not be enough to protect and preserve our values.

To ensure that our values align with the objectives pursued by AI systems, and to ensure that the values guiding the industry responsible for developing such systems are not merely market values but values that promote the flourishing of our species, several ethical guidelines have been published in recent years.

This is a very important initiative, and we encourage and commend everyone involved in this effort. In these published documents, coming from the most diverse origins, many ethical principles are defined and defended: Transparency, Justice, Fairness, Non-maleficence, Accountability, Privacy, Beneficence, Freedom, Autonomy, Trust, Dignity, Sustainability, Solidarity.

The purpose of this letter is by no means to criticize the work done so far. Ethical guidelines are written by people. People are historical entities with specific contexts. It is natural that the principles outlined in such guidelines reflect the preferences of those responsible for producing them. The purpose of this letter is a request that two ethical principles, seemingly overlooked by many of these guidelines, receive more attention in this debate: Diversity and Inclusion.

• Diversity: The valuing of the different ways in which the human entity may come to express itself, through any group or identity it wishes. AI systems must be developed in a way that protects and values our diversity.
• Inclusion: The welcoming of all the ways the human entity may come to express itself, regardless of specific affiliations, groups, and identities. AI systems must be developed to “include,” not exclude.

The literature on AI Ethics has already advanced this debate to the point of creating various definitions of “algorithmic fairness,” which are themselves reflections of principles such as diversity and inclusion. However, the same cannot be said of the field of AI Ethics and Governance itself.

This is not so much a claim as an empirical fact about the current state of the world. The vast majority of ethical guidelines and documents created to regulate and govern AI and its industry originate from organizations in the Global North.

Practically the entire Global South is left out of the debate on the ethical principles that should regulate and steer the future technological development of our society. And this is unacceptable.

To our knowledge, the only ethical claims made by Latin America are the 2019 “Declaración de Principios Éticos Para la IA de Latinoamérica”, the 2020 “fAIr LAC: Adopción ética y responsable de la inteligencia artificial en América Latina y el Caribe,” and the 2020 “Marco Ético para la Inteligencia Artificial en Colombia.” In the Middle East, the only ethical claim regarding AI is the 2019 “Dubai’s AI Principles.” In South Asia, we find only the “Compilation of existing AI ethical principles (2020)” and the “Proposed Model AI Governance Framework: Guiding Principles (2019),” both from Singapore. In Sub-Saharan Africa, we find only the 2020 “AI & Data Topical Guide Series.” Of the nearly 200 ethical guidelines published to date, these are the only voices from the Global South. And by no means does this represent the full complexity of the societies found below the equator.

Regions such as Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia have far more to offer this debate than one could expect from other countries and cultures defining what is best for the context of these places. Places marked by the deep scars of an old world, by colonial wounds, and by imperialist policies that will not heal anytime soon.

This letter is a call for the Global South to wake up. It is a request for the Global North to be ready to listen, and for the doors to open so that the “rest” may be brought in. If we truly want AI to be something all of humanity shares, we cannot forget that we live in a plural, unequal, and diverse world. We must remember the voices that, until now, have not had the opportunity to claim their rights, explain their contexts, and perhaps tell us something we have not yet considered or heard.

To all global actors of the North, do not forget that the North/South divide is illusory. We all share the same home. And to all new and prospective actors of the Global South, make your voices heard. Use whatever means of communication are available to you. Get involved and claim your rights.

Bring the “rest” in.

Signatories

• Nicholas Kluge Corrêa, AIRES (AI Robotics Ethics Society) PUCRS
• Nythamar de Oliveira, PUCRS - CNPq
• Diogo Fernando Massmann, PUCRS
• Carolina Del Pino Carvalho, PUCRS
• Lara Sosa Márquez, PUCRS
• Camila Palhares Barbosa, PUCRS
• James William Santos, PUCRS
• Camila Trindade Galvão, PUCRS
• Rodrigo Mambrini Sandoval Barbosa, PUCRS
• Edmund Antônio Sousa Pontes Pinto, FCR - PUCRS
• Edmund Terem Ugar, University of Johannesburg (UJ)
• Rodrigo Leal de Moraes, NAVI Tecnopuc
• Guilherme Camargo, PUCRS
• Aaron Nul, AIRES (AI Robotics Ethics Society)
• Guilherme Fernandes Garcia, NAVI Tecnopuc
• Cláudio Teixeira Damilano, PUCRS
• Alexandre de Souza Athaíde, PUCRS
• Renata Lima Ferreira, Centro Universitário Ritter Dos Reis
• Délio José Kipper, EDMED-PUCRS
• Márcia Cassimiro, PUCRS
• Rafaela Weber Mallmann, AIRES PUCRS
• Tiago Protti Spinato, UniJuí
• Matheus de Mesquita Silveira, UCS
• Denise Cantarelli Machado, PUCRS
• Ricardo S. dos Santos, PUCRS
• Hellen Maruyama Kodama, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos
• Antônia Wallig, Associação Cultural Vila Flores
• Diogo Sebastião Wely, Lenda Cripto
• Camila Costa, AI Robotics Ethics Society
• Renata Guadagnin, Terceira Andar Educacional
• Nelson Fossatti, PUCRS
• Érico João Hammes, PUCRS
• Nuno Miguel Pereira Castanheira, PROCEMPA
• Joel Augusto Fogaça Barbosa, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos
• Marcelle Coelho Rosário, Universidade da Beira Interior
• Adriana Alexandra Antunes Gonçalves, Universidade da Beira Interior
• André Luiz Pontin, PROCEMPA
• Aline Santos Barbosa, RAIES/PUCRS
• Carlos Roberto Bueno, PUCRS
• Arthur Silva Fachi, UFSM
• Marcos Lentino Messerschmidt, PUCRS
• Jair Inácio Touchen, PUCRS
• Xudang Zheng, Beijing Normal University
• Paulo Castro Cardoso da Rosa, PUCRS
• Silvia Valle, Fundação Osvaldo Cruz
• Ana Paula Barreira, PUCRS
• Elzi Pedro Fabián, UFFS
• Rita Nugem, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
• Guilherme Padilha de Carvalho, PUCRS
• Fabiano Cunha, Estratégia Latino-Americana de Inteligência Artificial (ELA-IA)
• Carlos Wigderowitz, University of Dundee
• Luiz Vianna Sabrinho, Fundação Osvaldo Cruz
• Fernando Costa de Azevedo, UFPEL
• Lucas Taufer, UCS
• Ana Carolina Peuker, Bee Touch / NAVI
• Clovis Ricardo Montenegro de Lima, MCTI
• Wayder Matuzinhos de Moura, Faculdade SENAI Fatesg
• Julian Savulescu, National University of Singapore
• Sara Stempkowski Fagundes, Secretaria Municipal de Educação de P. Alegre
• André Dorneles Pares, Secretaria Municipal de Educação de P. Alegre
• Roger Crisp, University of Oxford
• Steven S. Gouveia, University of Porto
• Cinara Maria Leite Nahra, UFRN