Innovation ecosystems for socially beneficial AI

Governments have been preoccupied with the disruptive potential that AI technology confers, wanting to either maximize the creation of economic growth or minimize the risk of rights-related violations. Consequently, governments and international institutions have focused their efforts either on funding the AI industry broadly or cracking down on adverse applications. However, these approaches result in insufficient attention being paid to the ways in which AI can contribute to socially beneficial discoveries in fields as crucial as drug discovery, climate change, and education. A focus on social impact when investing in, and developing, innovation ecosystems is still a missing link in the AI development and governance landscape and prevents governments from enacting public policies that would otherwise promote socially meaningful innovation in AI.
This chapter is designed to raise awareness about the potential for AI to contribute to meaningful social change. It also provides a series of recommendations, which are built to support an innovation ecosystem that promotes AI for social good projects. The seven recommendations put forward seek to achieve three main objectives: i) enable informed and high-skilled engagement in the field of AI; ii) promote multidisciplinary collaboration across the AI-development value chain; and, iii) reward actors for contributing to this innovation ecosystem.