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On October 28, 2020, in partnership with the United Nations AI for Good, Changing the Story podcast co-hosts’ Neil Suhoda and Michael Ashley welcomed Valentine Goddard to hear her story as she pioneers the unique combination of art, artificial intelligence (AI) and the law to power civil engagement and sustainability.

Lawyer, mediator, inter-art curator and artist, Valentine Goddard is the founder and executive director of AI Impact Alliance, an independent non-profit organization and producer of the annual conference AI on a Social Mission and the Art Impact AI workshops. Operating globally, AI Impact Alliance’s mission is to facilitate an ethical and responsible implementation of artificial intelligence. Goddard is a member of the United Nations Expert Groups on The Role of Public Institutions in the Transformative Impact of New Technologies. Goddard sits on several committees related to the ethical and social impact of AI as well as regularly speaks at international conferences. In her multidisciplinary and applied approach to the ethics of AI, Goddard places special emphasis on human dignity, cultural, and social mediation projects for human rights education. Her recent work focusses on how the arts can foster renewed and diverse perspectives of our digital futures, support the development of informed and legitimate AI Policies, and shape AI’s development and governance.

Goddard began the interview by discussing the role that art can have on understanding the future of AI. According to Goddard, one of the systemic strategies and solutions we can ensure AI is developed to achieve in terms of the United Nation’s sustainable development goals is to put AI in the hands of organizations who are already working for their community and bridging the digital divide in society. Technology is influencing art and vice versa but Goddard is trying to state that it is possible for art to help shape the governance surrounding AI. Engaging with art allows for an embodied experience or the capacity to empathize with a certain situation, making it an important tool in helping us envision and feel our future.

Thinking about where the connection of AI and Art will lead society, Goddard references three of the top four skills of the future: creativity, critical thinking and collaboration. Furthermore, with the occurrence of the COVID pandemic, people are rethinking models. In Canada, where Goddard is from, there are discussions about implementing universal basic income and how AI is in the process of bringing these concepts into a reality. Goddard is hoping that different ways will be discovered to put concrete value to the work of artists because she believes that artists have a significant role to play when it comes to economic recovery and how it relies on society’s support for the value that artist bring to innovation in the world. Some advice that Goddard has for younger artists concerning how to use technology and the use of expression to have it be a force for good is that there are easily accessible platforms being developed and with AI as a technological tool for creativity, it allows for a better understanding of AI. According to Goddard, it is important to engage and participate in forums where discussions about potential changes and adapting IP laws to fit within AI.

To watch the interview with Goddard, visit the podcast

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