The Moroccan researcher joins 28 other academics and experts to discuss the ethical challenges of today’s world.
Rabat – UNESCO has appointed the Moroccan artificial intelligence expert, Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni, to the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST).
The Moroccan researcher joins the committee for a four-year term, from 2020 to 2023.
“It is an honor for me to serve ethics within this beautiful institution that is UNESCO,” Seghrouchni shared on Twitter.
The researcher holds a doctorate in artificial intelligence from the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris. She works as a professor at the Faculty of Science and Engineering of Sorbonne University.
Seghrouchni also chairs the Multi-Agent Systems research group and co-leads the artificial intelligence and data sciences department at Sorbonne University.
UNESCO set up COMEST, an advisory body, in 1998. The committee analyzes several issues, including environmental ethics, nanotechnology ethics, and scientific ethics.
Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay appoints the 18 COMEST members on a personal basis. The members have various specialties, including exact sciences, law, philosophy, culture, and political sciences.
In addition to the 18 members assigned on four-year terms, the COMEST has 11 permanent members representing UNESCO’s international programs.
Last month, UNESCO appointed another Moroccan academic, Fatima Roumate from the Mohammed V University of Rabat, to a different committee on artificial intelligence.
Azoulay selected Roumate, along with 23 other academics, to discuss the social, economic, and cultural challenges of artificial intelligence.
The committee is set to draft recommendations on the ethical questions pertaining to the development and use of artificial intelligence.
“It is our responsibility to lead a universal enlightened debate in order to enter this new era with our eyes wide open, without sacrificing our values, and establish a common global foundation of ethical principles for artificial intelligence,” said Azoulay while announcing the creation of the committee on March 11.
