Envisioning the Next 5 Years in AI: Our December Partners Event

In the next five years, what would we like to see happen in the field of AI? And what can the Partnership on AI (PAI), as both an organization and as a community, do to help make these outcomes a reality? As 2021 drew to a close, PAI invited our Partners to participate in a discussion addressing these questions with our December event, “Partner Perspectives: The Next 5 Years in AI.”

To help spark this conversation, the event featured a panel discussion between Partners from across disciplines, countries, and perspectives. Together, Eric Mugendi (Program Manager for Africa, Meedan), Brittany Smith (Policy Director, Data & Society), Lauren Thomas (Research Scientist – Responsible & Inclusive Technologies, IBM), and Sarah Treuhaft (Vice President of Research, PolicyLink) discussed what they saw on the horizon in the next five years.

In the future, PAI hopes to have more conversations with our Partners exploring this topic and the event opened with CEO Rebecca Finlay reaffirming PAI’s commitment to our Partners and Mission in a rapidly developing AI landscape.

“While we at PAI think about multistakeholder community building and collective action as being more important now than ever, it is also perhaps more challenging than when PAI first launched,” said Finlay. “In this context, you told me that PAI needs to renew and redefine its partnership with you.”

As part of our renewed Strategic Plan and Theory of Change, Finlay introduced four outcomes that PAI is committed to contributing to over the next five years:

1. An international, inclusive and equitable PAI community of Partners.
2. A public that is better informed about the social and societal impacts of AI.
3. Innovations in public policy by governments.
4. Changes in practice by PAI Partners in all sectors and broader communities.

Finlay also presented three results that will PAI will use to measure our success and will serve as our main points of accountability:

1. Important, timely convenings with diverse stakeholders across the world on emerging topics and trends, including experts in relevant areas and people at highest risk of being harmed by AI applications.
2. Influential, high-quality, accessible, relevant PAI resources, tools, and recommendations that support change in Partner practice, inform public policy and advance public understanding.
3. Accountability through research and reports that track and demonstrate progress in Partner practices and policies as well as public policy and understanding.

In 2022, PAI will be hosting additional events exploring the future of AI and how we can have a positive impact on it. To learn more about future opportunities to engage with our organization and the PAI community, visit our Events Page.