BGF

This year has been a remarkable journey for the Boston Global Forum (BGF) and the Michael Dukakis Institute (MDI). 2018 is a year of expansion and advancement with achievements in progress of fulfilling our mission. Taking steps and steps closer to our ultimate goal, these are the milestones we have reached so far this year:

1. The World Leadership Alliance Conference (G7WLA- Club de Madrid) – February 25-26, 2018 in San Francisco

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan – Director of BGF & MDI participated in conference of the World Leadership Alliance Conference (G7WLA-Club de Madrid) – the world´s largest forum of democratically elected former presidents and prime ministers of G7 and OECD countries in San Francisco from February 25-26, 2018. With the theme of “Next Generation Democracy”, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan presented the AIWS Initiative with 7-Layer Model as the foundation to build Next Generation Democracy and called for a joint effort from Club de Madrid and tech giants Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, and scholars from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Oxford, and Cambridge. This appeal was responded by the collaboration between the BGF and WLA-Club de Madrid with the mission of developing better models for humanity in the era of artificial intelligence.

Previously, on January 28, 2018, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan discussed with former President of Latvia Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of the World Leadership Alliance, at the University of Arizona. Both leaders from the two organizations agreed to establish the cooperation between BGF and WLA. With this agreement, AIWS has attracted the highly respected former presidents and prime ministers in the World Leadership Alliance (WLA-Club de Madrid), namely former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, former Norwegian Prime Minister in building AIWS.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan honored former President of Latvia Vaira Vike Freiberga for her dedication in building AIWS Initiative

 Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan discussed with former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien

 

2. AIWS Roundtable in Tokyo

On April 2, 2018, Michael Dukakis Institute (MDI) and Boston Global Forum (BGF) hosted a Roundtable in Tokyo with the participation of top AI researchers and thinkers in Japan “land of rising sun”: Dr. Kazuo Yano – Chief of Hitachi’s R&D Group and the pioneer of AI technology in Japan, Professor Koichi Hamada, special adviser to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who helped build the “Abenomics” doctrine, etc. The AIWS group in Japan was led by talented Kazuo Yano since this roundtable. With this important event, AIWS thoughts and pathways have spread strongly in the land of cherry blossoms.

Guests and speakers took memorial photos in the conference

 

3. BGF-G7 Summit Initiative – Boston

On April 25, 2018, at the BGF-G7 Summit Initiative Conference in Boston, the AIWS 7-Layer Model was officially published and presented to Canada government, the host country of G7 Summit 2018 as the initiative for the G7 Conference. In this special event, Walter Langelaar – Co-founder of SAM, the world’s first AI Politician accompanied with AIWS, presented SAM as an application layer of the 7-Layer Model of the AIWS. A New York financial analysis team that created the financial and investment analysis robot used by Dow Jones, also attended the Conference and co-built the 7th layer of the AIWS.

BGF President presented the AIWS Initiative to G7 Summit through representative of Canadian government, David Alward, Consul General of Canada

Notably in this event, for the first time, BGF&MDI honored the World Leader in AI World Society Award to Secretary General of OECD Angel Gurría. The OECD Secretary-General sent a video of the acceptance speech, he praised the AIWS initiative and hoped to promote the cooperation between OECD governments for the global consensus in AI development.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Guria received the World Leader in AIWS Award

 

4. The concepts of AI Government

On June 25, 2018, at Harvard University, BGF&MDI published the concepts of AI-Government, the 5^th and 6^th application layers of the AIWS 7-Layer Model.

 

5. Vietnam’s breakthrough strategy for AI Economy

On July 23, 2018, MDI developed Vietnam’s breakthrough strategy for AI Economy. The strategy was built by Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of BGF&MDI and Professor Jason Furman – Harvard University, Former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers of President Barack Obama according to the proposal of the Government of Vietnam.

On July 25, 2018 at Vietnam CEO Summit 2018 with the theme of “Age of Artificial Intelligence and Vietnamese Enterprises”, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan and Professor Jason Furman presented about the AIWS and Vietnam’s breakthrough strategy for AI Economy to leaders of largest enterprises in Vietnam.

 

6. The interview with Governor Michael Dukakis

On August 2018, the AIWS initiative drew the attention of US’s press. On August 9, 2018, Bob Salsberg – Associated Press conducted an interview with Governor Michael Dukakis about the AIWS Initiative which later published on many major media channels such as AP, New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, ABC News, US News and Reports etc.

Photo of Professor Michael Dukakis – AIWS co-author are published by major newspapers in the US

 

7. The first AIWS Conference: AI- Government and AI Arms Races and Norms

On September 20, 2019, the first AIWS Conference was organized by BGF at Harvard with the presence of influential professors from Harvard University, MIT, Tufts, Brown…, focusing on building the core principle for the AI-Government.

Professor Joseph Nye, the father of “soft power” to speak at the AIWS Conference

 

8. BGF & MDI and the Conferences of World Leadership Alliance in Northern Europe

In September and October 2018, the influences of AIWS Initiative spread and conquered the elite in Northern Europe through a series of World Leadership Alliance (WLA-CdM) Conferences.

On September 28-29, 2018, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan attended the Conference in Riga, On October 17, 2018 he participated the policy dialogue of WLA-CdM in Lisbon. Through these events, MDI has attracted many politicians’ participations in building the AIWS, namely former Finnish President, former Prime Minister of Norway, former EU President.

Former Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan discussed at the WLA-CdM conference in Lisbon (October 17)

Former Prime Minister of Norway Kjell Magne Bondevik and Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan discussed at the Lisbon Conference

 

9. 13^th International Symposium “Intelligent Systems -2018”

On October 22, 2018, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan delivered a keynote lecture on the concepts of AIWS and AI-Government in the 13th International Symposium “Intelligent Systems-2018” organized by three major universities in Russia at Saint Petersburg.

 

10. The Public Voice Symposium on AI, Ethics, and Fundamental Rights

On October 23, 2018, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan was a panelist in the Symposium and had discussions with the Ministers of Information and Communications of governments in the EU community in Brussels.

Photo: Under the moderation of President Marc Rotenberg, Electronic Privacy Information Center, (EPIC), Panel 2 of the Symposium had the presence of Ms. Elizabeth Denham, UK Information Commissioner, Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO); Ms. Helen Dixon, Data Protection Commissioner for Ireland; Ms. Andrea Jelinek, Chair, European Data Protection Board, and Head, Austria Data Protection Authority, and Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation (MDI).

 

11. The AI World Conference and Expo (December 3-5, 2018, Boston)

President Michael Dukakis was honorably chosen to deliver the opening remarks at the AI World Conference and Expo. At this event, on December 4, 2018, President Eliot Weinman of the AI World Conference and Expo announced a strategic partnership with BGF&MDI to organize the AI-Government Conference from June 24-26, 2019 at Washington DC. Mr. Eliot Weinman, Head of the Event Organizing Committee, was also pleased to announce the first Government AIWS Ethics and Practices Index developed by MDI.

MDI Director – Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan is the lead speaker in the panel on the AI-Government at the event. With AIWS Index and AI-Government, MDI has gradually affirmed its pioneering position.

President Michael Dukakis delivered opening remarks at the AI ​​World Conference and Expo held in Boston from December 3-5, 2018

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan presented the basic principles of the AI-Government at the AI World Conference and Expo in Boston, December 4, 2018

 

12. Global Cybersecurity Day 2018

On December 12, BGF&MDI held the Global Cybersecurity Day 2018. In this event, MDI awarded President Sauli Niinistö – President of the Republic of Finland as the World Leader for Peace and Cybersecurity for his contributions to building a Smart Government to effectively serve his citizens. President Niinistö expressed his honor to receive this award and emphasized that countries should make every effort to increase citizens’ awareness in all areas of society and strengthen cooperation among nations, as well as rules for international borders.

President Sauli Niinistö – President of the Republic of Finland received the World Leader for Peace and Cybersecurity

 

13. The first AI World Society Distinguished Lecture at Loeb House, Harvard December 12, 2018.

Notably, Rt. Hon. Liam Byrne MP, Member of Parliament for Birmingham, Hodge Hill, Shadow Digital Minister, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Inclusive Growth, delivered the first AI World Society Distinguished Lecture at the Global Cybersecurity Day. In the speech, he focused on the changes occurred in our society the last decade, and how it affected the society and market along with the risks and challenges. In conclusion, he called for the join force of lawmakers and change makers to reshape those constraints.

Excellent politician Liam Byrne MP presented the first Artificial Intelligence World Society Distinguished Lecture on December 12, 2018

Also in the event, Dr. Thomas Creely, Associate Professor of Ethics, Director of Ethics & Emerging Military Technology Graduate Program, U.S. Naval War College, on behalf of the authors group, presented the AIWS Report about AI Ethics and published the Government AIWS Ethics Index.

 

14. The AIWS House at Dalat University, Vietnam

On December 16, 2018, leaders of MDI discussed with leaders and scholars from Dalat University (DLU-Vietnam) to support the establishment of the AI World Society House and AI World Society Innovation Program at Dalat University. The two programs are considered “nucleus” for DLU to become a pioneer in research, teaching and application of AI in Vietnam. In this collaborative support mechanism, DLU will operate and manage the activities of the AIWS House and MDI will advise and supervise to ensure quality, efficiency and achievement of goals.

In the afternoon of December 16, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of BGF&MDI appeared on the Talk show “Leadership and Innovative Spirit in the era of Artificial Intelligence” held by Dalat University, Vietnam. The anchor was Journalist Ta Bich Loan, Director of Vietnam Televisions VTV3 Channel. Mr. Nguyen Anh discussed about the spirit of leadership and innovation and the importance of these qualities in the era of Artificial Intelligence.

After a year since the AIWS Initiative was born, AIWS has spread its significant influence to the world’s leading science and technology centers as well as political and cultural centers. From a group of scholars at Harvard University and MIT, AIWS has gathered great minds, progressive ideas, and new human thoughts to identify both promising and challenging issues that have been questioned by the development of AI technology. From a cross-century vision, stemming from a noble mission, AIWS has become a beautiful ideal, a great desire for the better future of mankind.

On December 12, 2018 Shivam Parikh, University’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences presented the result of his work with Associate Professor Pradeep Atrey, University at Albany on detecting fake news in the event of the Global Cybersecurity Day 2018, is organized by Boston Global Forum (BGF) and Michael Dukakis Institute (MDI), at Loeb House, Harvard.

The authenticity of information has become a longstanding issue affecting businesses and society and many researchers around the globe have been trying to understand the basic characteristics of the problem. Shivam Parikh and Pradeep Atrey’s study looks at the challenges associated with detecting fake news and existing detection approaches.

“Fake news can be any anything that is designed to change people’s opinion, convince its readers to believe in something that is not true,” said Parikh, who works as a systems developer analyst for ITS at University at Albany. He showed some specific examples of fake news and emphasized the serious impact of this growing problem “with the social media on the rise, fake news stories are very reachable and have a very high impact factor.”

At the same time, Parikh presented a categorization of some existing potential approaches, their key characteristics and their respective advantages and limitations. Methods mentioned are:

• Linguistic Features based Methods: The approach is about using/extracting key linguistic features from fake news;
• Deception Modeling based Methods: The process of clustering deceptive vs. truthful stories relies on theoretical approaches;
• Clustering based Methods Clustering: a known method to compare and contrast a large amount of data;
• Predictive Modeling based Methods: this method follows a logistic regression model based on training data set of 100 out of 132 news reports;
• Non-Text Cues based Methods: this mainly focused on the non-text content of the news content

In conclusion, the researcher highlights 4 key open research challenges that can guide future research on fake news detection:

1. Multi-modal Data-set: This opens up an opportunity for researchers to create a multi-modal data-set that covers all the fake news data types.
2. Multi-modal Verification Method: This calls for verification of not just language, but images, audio, embedded content (i.e. embedded video, tweet, Facebook post) and hyperlinks (i.e. links to different URLs).
3. Source Verification: Source of the news story has not been done in proposed existing methods, this calls for a new fake news detection method that can perform source verification and considers the source in evaluating fake news stories.
4. Author Credibility Check: One of the methods proposes that detecting tone of a news story to detect fake news, research challenge could be that author credibility check allows system to detect chain of news written same author or same group of authors to detect fake news.

Parikh continues working on these issues and he believes better understanding in the field will assist in improving the accuracy of the detection of fake news and misinformation in the future.

A recently published report named Off the Leash: The Development of Autonomous Military Drones in the UK reveals that the UK’s Defense and Security Accelerator (DASA) is funding research for autonomous lethal drone.

The report indicates that the Ministry of Defense (MoD) funded many autonomous weapon programs. Among these projects, the work on the Taranis drone was highlighted: it is the culmination of more than ten years working by BAE Systems, a British multinational defense, security, and aerospace company. The Taranis drone is valued at 200 million pounds with the capability to fly, plan the route, locate and kill target without direct human input.

Despite concrete evidence, the MoD denied its involvement in developing this weapon: “There is no intent within the MoD to develop weapon systems that operate entirely without human input. Our weapons will always be under human control as an absolute guarantee of oversight, authority, and accountability,” said MoD representative.

The result of the study causes the fear of these robots’ deployment in the future and potential arms race to take place. “Without a ban, there will be an arms race to develop increasingly capable autonomous weapons. These will be weapons of mass destruction. One programmer will be able to control a whole army.” said Toby Walsh, Scientia Professor of AI at UNSW Sydney.

In response to the threat, a global consensus in AI development is needed to prevent development of weapons or technologies that are likely to cause harm to humanity or have purpose of causing or facilitating injury to human. At the moment, together with the AIWS Standards and Practice Committee, the Michael Dukakis Institution is also taking actions to draw the attention of UN, OECD countries to call for an AI Peace Treaty that prohibits the creation, stockpiling, and use of those weapons.

IBM has successfully created the first prototype of fingernail sensor, which can supervise a person’s condition.

Skin-based sensors commonly help monitor our motion, muscle, and nerve cells; it can also indicate emotional status.

This new prototype of fingernail sensor was developed by IBM with a unique feature that analyzes fingernail bends, for instance, the tactile sensing of pressure, temperature, surface textures of our fingernails when we use them for gripping, grasping, and even flexing and extending our fingers. “This deformation is on the order of single digit microns and not visible to the naked eye,” said Katsuyuki Sakuma, from IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York.

By attaching strain gauges to the fingernail, it collects accelerometer data and sends to a smartwatch, which is installed machine-learning algorithms. It will evaluate bradykinesia, tremor, and dyskinesia to detect Parkinson’s disease. This creation could contribute significantly to the potential development of “a new device modeled on the structure of the fingertip that could one day help quadriplegics communicate,” noted Sakuma.

However, having an AI device attached to our hand to detect symptoms might result in unwanted consequences if the installment is not done cautiously. To ensure the safety of users, data governance, accountability, development standards, and the responsibility for all practitioners involved directly or indirectly in creating AI must be taken into careful consideration, according to Layer 3 of the AIWS 7-Layer Model developed by the Michael Dukakis Institute.

Sunspring’s first debut was in Sci-fi London Film Festival 2016; the story was set in a miserable world with extremely high unemployment rate, which attracted a certain number of fans. However, the most surprising feature about the film was its screenwriter – an Artificial Intelligence bot.

One of the common reviews about the movie was “amusing but strange”, it was spotted in character’s dialogues that the sentences rather sound unrelated and random. Nevertheless, AI’s work on background music and visual images were excellent. This spurred the idea of human- machine collaboration in storytelling.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab recently looked into the potential for this combination in video storytelling. Before getting into the research, it is found that a story’s emotional arc affects the audience engagement greatly. The most fascinating story usually provokes strong emotional response.

By working with McKinsey’s Consumer Tech and Media team to program a machine-learning algorithm to be a moviegoer. Using deep neural networks, it estimates positive or negative emotional content by second harvested from short videos, movies, TV… “Watching” the opening of Up – an animated film which was a popular hit, the computer drew a graph of emotional arc based on its visual effects and sound.

After having the model watched thousands of videos and constructing emotional arcs for each one, researchers classified the stories into families of arcs. Among more than 500 Hollywood movies and another with almost 1,500 short films found on Vimeo, the data was divided into 5 groups of families. The next step was to analyze and predict the audience engagement on social media. After running on test on several of families, two stories that attracted the most engagement both culminate with a positive emotional bang found in the climax. Hence, it could be concluded that positive emotions generate greater engagement. Not only are there more in number of engagement but these comments are also longer and passionate as well.

In general, the idea of human collaborating with machine is no longer science fiction. But it also requires regulations for this co-operation. Developing rules and ethical guidelines for AI are what the AIWS is working on, with the development of Layer 1, AIWS hopes to establish a responsible code of conduct for AI Citizens to ensure that AI is safely integrated into human society.

Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong, nationals and residents of China were inculpated for stealing trade secrets and other sensitive information from U.S. tech companies in the latest indictment unveiled by the Justice Department.

The two hackers from China were charged with three counts including computer hacking, conspiracy to commit fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The prosecutor claimed that they were part of a Beijing-backed group dubbed APT10, which had worked with many security companies in China. The men are accused of stealing “hundreds of gigabytes of sensitive data” in aviation, space and satellite technology manufacturing and many key sectors. The victims of the crime were not mentioned. It was said that the Chinese hackers had targeted the customer’s data of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM as well as personal information including salary, emails, birthday, and social security number of 100,000 U.S Navy Personnel.

Dmitri Alperovitch, Chief Technology Officer at CrowdStrike, who were honored by BGF as the Practitioner in Cybersecurity 2016, which has tracked APT10 in recent years, called the Justice Department’s move “unprecedented and encouraging” to take action against China.

“Today’s announcement of indictments against Ministry of State Security (MSS), whom we deem now to be the most active Chinese cyber threat actor, is another step in a campaign that has been waged to indicate to China that its blatant theft of IP is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” he said. “While this action alone will not likely solve the issue and companies in US, Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan will continue to be targeted by MSS for industrial espionage, it is an important element in raising the cost and isolating them internationally.”

On 15-16 December, the Doha Forum 2018 took place in a forward-looking platform for policy makers from all over the world to discuss how we enhance and optimize on cooperation between different perspectives, expertise, countries and organizations. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of the World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid, a member of BGF’s Board of Thinkers, discussed the challenges in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a plenary session at the Forum.

Vaira Vike-Freiberga was a member of Independent Team of Advisors, which gave recommendations based on analysis regarding the changing role of the UN development system considering the 2030 Agenda, the development program that is meant to implement the SDGs. She participated in the discussion session with Ahrim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Key points highlighted in her recommendation for 2030 Agenda includes:

Achieving the SDGs will take commitment and belief

As the financial resolution addressed by Ahrim Steiner, she claimed additional requirements to achieve the goals, including commitment and belief. “It takes commitment and belief in the ability of the human race to sustain a planet that it will not self-destroy, but that will continue to thrive and develop” said Vike-Freiberga.

A common Agenda for states with different priorities

Since there are 193 UN Member States there is no way all of them could take the same approach to adopting of Agenda 2030. “It would take a bold soul to claim that all nations sitting at the UN General Assembly have hearts beating at the same rhythms and minds committed to the same ideals,” said the President of the World Leadership Alliance.

Technology: ally or foe?

Following the priorities of states, technology was mentioned in her speech. She emphasized the potential result of unequal access to technology between states. “Modern technologies will allow people in remote areas to have access to education. If you couldn’t bring teachers to the students, technology can bring them the information that they need.”

The role of the SDGs in global governance

Rising inequality and the fact that the “GINI index is growing in both developed and undeveloped countries” mean that a common agenda for development is even more necessary. “If this is not reversed, a significant part of the world will not have reached the SDGs by 2030”, said Vaira Vike-Freiberga.

On December 16, 2018, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of Boston Global Forum; Director of the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation appeared on the Talkshow “Leadership and Innovative Spirit in the era of rrtificial Intelligence” held by Dalat University (Vietnam). The anchor was Journalist Ta Bich Loan, Director of Vietnam Televisions VTV3 Channel.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of Boston Global Forum; Director of the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation appeared on the Talkshow “Leadership and Innovative Spirit in the era of AI”

The program was organized by the leaders of the Dalat University and broadcasted on Vietnamese Lam Dong and VTV3 Television. Being an alumnus of Dalat University; and currently CEO of Boston Global Forum; Director of the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation (US), Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan was invited as a guest speaker to share his ideas with many students and professionals in the Dalat University.

Students and lecturers of the Dalat University participating in the Talkshow

Not only did Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan explained to his audience the concept and importance of artificial intelligence nowsadays, he also noted that the spirit of innovation, daring to think and do differently are the most identified qualities of great leaders to capture the new trend of the future and lead in the society of Artificial Intelligence.

The conversation is all very respectful and at times funny. Toward the end of the interview, Journalist Ta Bich Loan and Mr. Nguyen Anh discussed about the spirit of leadership and why the era of Artificial Intelligence needs a spirit of leadership and innovation.

This event is considered one of the university’s most visited events in recent years.

 

Cameron Hickey, Technology Manager at the Information Disorder Lab (IDLab) from the Shorenstein Center, held a talk on Fake News during the Global Cybersecurity Day 2018 at Loeb House, Harvard.

Cameron Hickey is the Technology Manager at the Information Disorder Lab (IDLab) at the Shorenstein Center. He is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who has reported on science and technology for the PBS NewsHour and NOVA, and covered political, social, and economic issues for many outlets, including The New York Times, American Experience, Al Jazeera, and Bill Moyers.

The presentation of Cameroon Hickey at the Global Cybersecurity Day 2018 Symposium on fake news also received much of the audience’s attention. His report brought people conscience about the definition and classification of information disorder and its challenging impact to our society.

After 10 years working in the PBS Newshour reporting on technology and in the last two years, he shifted his focus to disinformation on social media. During these years, he found three types of this phenomenon occurred divided by its level, they are dis-information, mis-information, mal-information, rather than just the common term: “fake news”

He also explained and categorized information disorder into seven forms:

• Satire or Parody
• Misleading Content
• Imposter Content
• Fabricated Content
• False Connection
• False Context
• Manipulated Content

In addition, there are a number of junk pages on the internet which contain hate speech, plagiarism, fake, clickbait, misleading content…

In order to deal with these domains, one of the key solutions is to track and identify the source of this false information. There are also common characteristics can be found on the junk websites, these characteristics are listed by Mr. Hickey after 6 months of intensive content monitoring:

• Coordination comes in many flavors – bots vs real people
• Information disorder is rarely obvious -nuanced content is equally pervasive and problematic
• Hate and Bigotry driving the conversation – islamophobia, sexism, anti-immigrant…
• The Network remains reactive

This issue is extremely challenging since many do not know to differ these false content with fact. Furthermore, they are convinced by the advertising systems run by other parties political who want votes or enterprises who want to generate revenue on social platform like Facebook and Google without knowing the news suggested for them has been manipulated.

Watch full speech of Cameron Hickey at the Global Cybersecurity Day 2018