Committed to connecting the world

Artificial Intelligence

AI plays an important role in accelerating progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Within its mandate, ITU provides a neutral platform for all stakeholders to build a common understanding of the capabilities of AI technologies, facilitating trusted, safe and inclusive development of AI technologies, and equitable access to their benefits.

AI for Good

AI for Good is the leading action-oriented, global & inclusive UN platform on AI. Its goal is to identify practical applications of AI to advance the UN SDGs and scale those solutions for global impact. AI for Good consists of an all year online program and the annual in-person AI for Good Global Summit. AI for Good is organized by ITU in partnership with 40 UN Sister Agencies and co-convened with Switzerland.

Inter-Agency Working Group on AI

The CEB-HLCP inter-agency working group on AI (IAWG-AI), co-led by ITU and UNESCO, is to bring together UN system expertise on AI in support of the CEB and HLCP. It combines the ethical and technological pillars of the UN to provide a solid foundation for current and future system-wide efforts on AI with a view to ensuring respect for human rights and accelerating progress on the SDGs.

Since 2018, a compendium of UN Activities on AI has been issued with an aim to introduce and present the activities being carried out by the UN system on AI. The report is a joint effort between ITU and 40+ UN agencies and bodies. It is a tool to further collaboration and build common understanding around the opportunities and challenges related to leveraging the potential of AI technologies for good.

The Focus Group on AI for Natural Disaster Management (FG-AI4NDM) capitalizes on the growing interest and novelty of AI in the field of natural disaster management to help lay the groundwork for best practices in the use of AI for: assisting with data collection and handling, improving modelling across spatiotemporal scales, and providing effective communication.

The Focus Group on AI for Health works in partnership with WHO to establish a standardized assessment framework for the evaluation of AI-based methods for health, diagnosis, triage and treatment decisions- which will assure their quality, foster the adoption in practice and have a strong positive impact on global health.

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The Global Initiative on Artificial Intelligence for Health (GI-AI4H) was launched by ITU, WHO and WIPO in July 2023 at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva. The three UN specialized agencies have joined forces to ensure that AI fulfils its potential to support diagnosis and treatment, along with more efficient and inclusive healthcare services.

The fourth industrial revolution, digital economy and society, Internet of Things, connected cars and cities all depend on telecommunication networks, services and applications, and increasingly rely on radiocommunications to provide the basis for ubiquitous connectivity. ITU-R plays a vital role in this ecosystem: managing frequency spectrum and satellite orbits, as well as developing globally harmonized regulations and standards, are fundamental in order to ensure accessible affordable telecommunications to all. In doing so, artificial intelligence acts as an enabler to enhance emerging radio technologies.

To address the core challenges and opportunities within the agricultural sector, together with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Focus Group on AI and Internet of Things (IoT) for Digital Agriculture (FG-AI4A) is working towards new international standards for AI and the Internet of Things to improve the precision and sustainability of farming techniques.

Following the success of the first AI for Good Global Summit, ITU launched a global AI repository to identify AI related projects, research initiatives, think-tanks and organizations that can accelerate progress towards the 17 UN SDGs. The AI Repository is open to all and we invite anyone working in the field of AI to contribute to this resource.

AI Standards

In its pursuit of universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation, ITU has developed standards for utilizing AI in orchestrating 5G and future networks, multimedia innovation, assessing and improving the quality of digital services, and improving energy efficiency.

AI Training Courses

The ITU Academy is the main online gateway to ITU’s capacity development activities. It brings together a wide range of training activities and knowledge resources in the field of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digital development, including AI.