‘A pioneer of international cooperation on the governance of artificial intelligence (AI), a passionate advocate of inclusive, responsible and collaborative applications of data and AI to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology’ Ambassador Amandeep Singh Gill is Under-Secretary-General and United Nations Envoy on Technology. He leads the UN’s efforts on digital cooperation. He was previously Executive Director and Co-Lead of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation that presented a field-shaping report “Age of Digital Interdependence” in June 2019. Prior to joining the United Nations in 2018, he served as an Ambassador for India. As a diplomat, Ambassador Gill led the negotiations on regulating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in lethal autonomous weapons systems in Geneva from 2017-2018. The principles and building blocks adopted under his chairmanship by 125 countries by consensus are an important contribution to ensuring that international humanitarian law continues to apply to AI systems and humans remain accountable for life and death decisions by machines. Subsequently, he was part of the group of global experts that put together a draft Recommendation on the Ethics of AI at UNESCO, which has since been adopted by the UNESCO membership in November 2021. He helped set up the first Task Force on AI for India’s Socio-Economic Transformation in 2017. His research and writings as Professor at the Graduate Institute of Geneva have contributed to a greater appreciation of the digital divide and the need to democratize the AI opportunity for all countries and regions. He has forcefully argued that inclusive, responsible, and collaborative use of data and AI can accelerate progress on the sustainable development goals (SDGs). As inaugural CEO of the International Digital Health and AI Research Collaborative (I-DAIR), a multistakeholder initiative based in Geneva, he helped focus attention on access to cutting edge research on digital health and artificial intelligence for clinical researchers, policy makers and patients, particularly in small States and the Global South. Amandeep Gill studied Electronics and Electrical Communications at Panjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. He worked as a telecom engineer briefly before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1992 and serving in Geneva, Tehran, Sri Lanka, and at headquarters, including as Director General for Disarmament and International Security Affairs. He has a post-graduate diploma in French language and history from Geneva University and a Doctorate in international learning from King’s College, London. He is a published poet and brings a unique transdisciplinary perspective to questions of technology policy and governance.
Amandeep Gill