On May 5, 2020, the Boston Global Forum and Michael Dukakis Institute announced the Framework for the Social Contract 2020, a New Social Contract in the Age of AI, version 1.0.
The authors are Professor Nazli Choucri (MIT), Governor Michael Dukakis, co-founder and Chairman of the Boston Global Forum, Tuan Anh Nguyen, co-founder and Director of Michael Dukakis Institute, Professor Thomas Patterson (Harvard), Professor Alex Pentland (MIT), Nghia Trong Pham (Deputy Director General of the Department of Law at Vietnam’s National Assembly Office), and Professor David Silbersweig (Harvard).
Just as the Social Contract of the 18th Century helped shape a new world, Social Contract 2020 also has a transformative vision: It transcends the technological features of artificial intelligence per se, and seeks to provide foundations for a new society — one based on the profound, widespread, ethical and just application of AI. (Note, for example, how the Covid-19 pandemic urgently requires a new society with new structure and order). Social Contract 2020 lays the foundation and standards for a new international system; it focuses on the conduct of each nation, relations with non-state actors (such as international business and not for profit entities), and the interconnection of nations (and their relations with organized entities) on a worldwide basis. While TCP / IP is the platform for communication among internet users, Social Contract 2020 can be seen as a platform for connection between governments, stakeholders, and private and public institutions.
This is the first Social Contract in the 21st century, the Age of AI, for a new society and world.
