Closing remarks Digital Technologies Side event
This G20 side event interrogating digital technologies has brought to the fore the complexities of policy making in an age of Artificial Intelligence. As G20 countries it is clear that we are encountering similar challenges in staying abreast of technological developments and their implications for artists, for content creators, for workers in the cultural and creative industries.
In some instances we are still finding the vocabulary, grappling with the very words and concepts we need to describe what is being achieved through AI and to fully identify what is being lost - through reliance on AI to do some of what humans should still do. Today we have heard that critical thinking skills may well be lost or in retreat. We have heard that human creativity needs to be protected, safeguarded and ecosystems nurtured that are protective of human achievement and by implication, human rights.
There has also been direction offered on how we can navigate these deep and murky waters, through legislation, international legal tools, national regulations, standards and effective management. We have zoomed in, comparing notes on how best to integrate decent work and fair remuneration within the digital economy.
The protection of economic and digital rights has come out strongly in the conversations. There are innovations underway where we are increasingly looking at a highly mobile reality where portability defies old conventions of the particular rigid spaces and set times which the world of work used to be and wherein we once resided.
What is clear is that one country alone cannot stand up to the elephant in the room which AI has become - or rather its effects and implications.
We need critical masses of people, countries, international organisations to work together, to remind us of our collective humanity, how to recognise, acknowledge, identify and safeguard that which is truly human, the authorship that we ought to maintain over our own lives and creativity. Issues of discoverability have come into focus and what can be done to achieve greater visibility and to monetise work in digital spaces.
The thematic areas of the South African presidency, “solidarity, equality and sustainability” have stood out in every discussion as together we seek to build an AI that is ethical and to cultivate platforms that accommodate content creators everywhere and give them equal opportunities to succeed and earn royalties and revenue and a variety of income streams.
What is important in the final analysis is organisation and more organisation as well as partnerships.
As we look forward to intense discussions and negotiations next week with the G20 Culture Working Group meeting in their last lap before the Ministerial gathering, we do so fully armed with the guidance from yourselves and the clarity that you have provided in this long day of discussions. You have sophisticated debates and provided leadership. You have done so with the activism it requires to move this Culture sector towards greater heights.
We thank everyone for their participation, their willingness to share best practices and to pave the way for a stronger cultural and creative sector globally and a far stronger Culture Working Group that will go into the future more resilient and more relevant than ever before.
I thank you.
