USAID’s focus on AI and emerging technology continues with new policy release
The U.S. global development agency is continuing to focus on the opportunities and potential challenges raised by artificial intelligence.
After USAID revealed a democracy, human rights, and governance policy Thursday, Administrator Samantha Power highlighted the need to use technology to strengthen democracy, while also remaining vigilant about the ways the same kinds of tools could be used to harm people.
In remarks delivered about the policy, Power pointed to the ways technologies like AI and spyware could be used to help authoritarians, while systems like facial recognition could be used to challenge dissent and silence critics.
“This policy expands our toolbox so that we can keep up with fast-moving technology that can be weaponized against citizens,” she said in her speech. “As the agency’s first-ever credo on digital democracy, it codifies our intent to counter the rise of digital repression at its source. We are working with lawyers, judges, legislatures and other oversight organizations to develop national strategies and standards around the use of technologies.”
Power also pointed to initiatives meant to increase transparency into ways new technological platforms and data are used, while also raising awareness about the way these systems could manipulate people.
The announcement came just days after Isobel Coleman, the agency’s deputy administrator, spoke about the technology and its potential impact at the Global AI Leadership Summit. Coleman spoke at length about the potential for artificial intelligence, pointing specifically to use cases deployed in Mexico and India.
“Artificial intelligence can help. It quickly identifies patterns no humans can see in a lifetime, and these analyses can then inform how we scale our responses,” Coleman said, according to a prepared transcript of the speech released by USAID. “But the truth is that while AI is one of our best bets, there are huge gaps between the Global North and the Global South in terms of capability and capacity for digital tools, specifically AI.”
At the same time, Coleman warned that the technology could exacerbate inequality between the Global North and Global South. She also emphasized the need to have a human in the loop when deploying the technology, while strengthening digital ecosystems, including data and workforce.
Power also met this week with Dario Amodei, CEO of the AI company Anthropic, to discuss how AI could be used in global development. That discussion included a focus on use cases for the technology. Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment.
“Administrator Power and Mr. Amodei discussed applications of AI relevant to issues such as global health and reducing administrative burdens for USAID implementing partners, including burdens that disproportionately impact local organizations, as well as opportunities to enhance access to AI tools in underserved regions,” Shejal Pulivarti, an acting spokesperson for the agency, said in a statement.
Pulivarti continued: “Administrator Power highlighted USAID’s efforts to strengthen digital and information ecosystems and build partnerships to shape a responsible global AI agenda.”
USAID has made clear that it’s interested in exploring both the potential opportunities and limitations of AI in the realm of international development, as exemplified by both its AI use case inventory and its AI action plan.
Power’s meeting with Amodei follows a June meeting with Anna Makanju, the vice president of global affairs at OpenAI.
