Enabling Ethical AI for Present and Future Generations in a Time of Heightened Global Insecurity

A side event of the

3rd Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

Centara Grand at CentralWorld 

Bangkok, Thailand 

Room tbc

23 June 2025, 13:00-18:00 (UTC+7 hours)

Enabling Ethical AI for Present and Future Generations at a Time of Heightened Global Insecurity is a side event of the 3rd UNESCO Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.

This mini-symposium addresses a range of urgent issues in the present era of global turbulence and heightened insecurity. The symposium foregrounds questions concerning the potential for developing ethical AI systems that can promote human security. Discussions will also take on the pressing need to ensure a trajectory for AI development that can safeguard the integrity of social-ecological systems at risk due to threats of anthropogenic climate change, biodiversity loss and extinction. Finally, the event foregrounds the question of how increased social cohesion can be enabled and developed through scientific and AI literacy, futures literacy, education and training initiatives capable of preparing populations for the challenges of the 21st century.

This event acknowledges, on the one hand, the enormous opportunities AI offers for mitigating vulnerabilities and constructively reorienting international cooperation across numerous sectors. These sectors include the fields of multilateralism, policymaking and governance, civil society, education, science, technology and innovation, and of course those sectors and areas where AI has seen the most profound and visible proliferation in the past few years—those of business, industry, social use and consumer behaviour.  

On the other hand, the session will also foreground the growing need and collective obligation of actors from each of these sectors to ensure viable pathways for the ethical development of technological solutions as guided, augmented and facilitated by AI in what can only be described as the breathtaking pace at which current technological and market forces have unfolded in spurring the development of AI during the current decade of the 2020s. 

A quarter of the way through the 21st century, the agreements, targets and ambitions of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement are not close to being met. How can ethical AI help to scale up the meeting of these goals, while always recognizing and remaining committed to the human rights, dignity and autonomous potential of all citizens of the world/inhabitants of the Earth?

Co-convening partners

• BRIDGES Coalition, UNESCO-MOST (Management of Social Transformations) Programme

• Chulalongkorn University

• Kingdom of Thailand Vice Presidency of the UNESCO MOST Intergovernmental Council

• Thailand Science, Research and Technology Fund 

Co-sponsoring partners

• ASU Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory

• Globethics

• The Club of Rome

• World Academy of Art and Science

• Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA)

• UNESCO AI Ethics Team

The event will take place both at the site of the 3rd UNESCO Global Forum on the Ethics of AI (Centara Grand in Bangkok) and online on 23 June, 1 pm to 6 pm local time (UTC+ 7 hours). 

Online registration via the following link is required for both forms of attendance: https://specialevents.asu.edu/ethical-ai-forum

Full program details are also available on the regristration page. Attendance is free of charge. RSVP while available space lasts. 

Please note: Enabling Ethical AI for Present and Future Generations in a Time of Heightened Global Insecurity is the first of two linked side events taking place in Bangkok on 23-24 June in advance of the 3rd Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. The other event, AI Ethics and Governance in a Fractured World: Asia Pacific’s Path Forward, is hosted at Chulalongkorn University on 24 June (full program details, including venue, time and registration link, are forthcoming in the days ahead—please check back for these details). 

Together the linked events on 23 & 24 June will produce a common outcome document, the UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES-CHULA UNIVERSITY Bangkok Statement on Ethical AI, to be published during GFEAI 25.

AI Ethics and Governance in a Fractured World: Asia Pacific’s Path Forward

The 24 June side event at Chulalongkorn University, AI Ethics and Governance in a Fractured World: Asia Pacific’s Path Forward, addresses the complexity of AI’s impact on society by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and collective sense-making. Amid global insecurity and inequality, the event explores AI’s ethical challenges across labor, digital rights, Indigenous data sovereignty, climate risk, and inclusive 4IR governance. Bringing together partners from civil society, academia, government, and media in Asia Pacific. Key questions include: How can AI be governed ethically in diverse and unequal societies? Who benefits, who is excluded, and how can inclusive governance frameworks be designed? The event will serve as a platform for dialogue, coalition-building, and participatory agenda-setting toward ethical and rights-based AI futures.

Partners for this event: 

• Chulalongkorn University (Institute of Asian Studies, Social Research Institute, and MAIDS-GRIP, Faculty of Political Science)

• The international consortium of partners co-sponsoring the UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES-CHULA University-TSRI convened event of 23 June, Enabling Ethical AI for Present and Future Generations in a Time of Heightened Global Insecurity (ASU Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, Globethics, World Academy of Art and Science, The Club of Rome)

• SEAMEO SEPS (Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre on Sufficiency Economy Sustainability)

• Eastern Himalaya - Mekong Youth Network on Climate Change

• Asia Pacific Sociological Association

• Good Governance for Society and Environment Institute Foundation(GSEI)

• COFACT

• Jitwiwat Group

• Internet Foundation for the Development of Thailand

• Digital Economy Promotion Agency 

• National Health Commission Office

• Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program Foundation

• Mae Tao Clinic

• School of Global Studies, Thammasart University

• Hilmalaya Assembly