The Tao of Artificial Intelligence, Tech Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution
Toledo, June 18th/19th 2021
The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and Universidad de Castilla La Mancha (UCLM), in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Toledo International Center for Peace (CITPax) and the Factum Foundation organized a two-day Seminar on Artificial Intelligence, Technological Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution in the Aula Magna (“Madre de Dios” building) of the UCLM’s Toledo campus, on June 18th and 19th.
The seminar had five round tables, each discussing relevant themes such as global digital governance, the multilateral architecture for conflict resolution, the European strategy for cybermediation, the new digital instruments for conflict resolution, the uses of Artificial Intelligence in the use of cultural heritage in mediation and other relevant issues in the field of technological diplomacy.
After two days of intense debates in Toledo, all participants agreed to publish a declaration on the need to respond to the challenges concerning the use of artificial intelligence and technological innovation in the context of international conflicts and the new power relations in the current global order.
Technological innovation in recent years, especially in the field of Artificial Intelligence, has changed the power relations that shape the new global order, impacting the field of international relations. Unequal access to data and new technology, controlled by a small number of digital giants, poses unprecedented challenges given the poorly regulated contexts that threaten traditional state sovereignty. Social media and cyberspace are combined to create modern-day battlegrounds and the challenges posed by this situation, paired with the changes that AI i s causing in the dynamics of conflicts, transcend the boundaries of political, social, and economic relations, the institutions that govern them and the international security system.
Key international actors in the field of mediation and conflict resolution, the UN Department of Political Affairs and Peacebuilding as well as the European External Action Service, are developing cybermediation strategies and digital tools to ensure a more effective approach to conflict resolution, but global digital governance today presents more questions than answers. The tech community and mediation actors are still working i n areas with little interaction, missing the opportunity to develop far-reaching initiatives. There i s an urgent need for the EU to provide itself with a framework for technological governance that i nvolves conflict prevention and resolution.
When it comes to defence and security, including crisis management, insurgencies or the role of nonstate actors, AI and related technologies are accelerating the tempo of operation, altering the costs of conflicts and Increasing the risks of escalation through covert attacks, use of autonomous weapons systems and by changing public attitudes about the risks of getting involved in external conflicts. The companies that manage these technologies are becoming actors in the conflict management process whilst authoritarian states are fashioning increasingly effective instruments to control the flows of information and data of their citizens. We must now ask ourselves where and how we draw the line between excess technological control in the name of conflict prevention and the safeguarding of democratic principles.
Upon many occasions, the European Union has expressed growing concern of the changes and implications brought about by AI. The Berlin Declaration last December on digital society and the Lisbon declaration of 1st June on digital democracy, were attempts to bring these issues to the forefront of Europe’s political agenda. In previous years, such discussions have mainly included tech experts with an optimistic and scarcely critical view of the risks of these processes. The systematic use of disinformation by numerous state and non-state actors, is creating asymmetries with profound political and security implications. The “2030 digital compass: the European way for a digital decade” is a roadmap to start this path, but it needs to be developed in different ways in order to be operational.
International actors in the field of mediation and conflict resolution need to define conceptual frameworks and technological tools that include the ethical and transparent dimensions of AI and its application. Their success will depend on the ability of mediators to effectively use these instruments in the right operational environments. The debate revolves around a secure international environment, based on human rights, democracy and the rule of l aw, regulated by broad-based codes of conduct to promote the use of technology with a focus on sustainability and overall well-being. International political leaders need to move beyond general statements with a simplistic and overly complacent view of the future of technology and promote concrete initiatives to respond to these challenges. Finding ways to use technology constructively and effectively in conflict prevention and resolution will be a very important contribution to giving these technologies a constructive meaning and purpose.
The workshop held in Toledo in June 18th-19th 2021, has focused on the intersection between digital governance and AI, and the practice of mediation and conflict resolution, to raise awareness among diplomats, experts, academics and mediators about the importance of technological diplomacy, and AI’s influence on mediation practices and initiatives. The workshop is a starting point, which sets out to explore potential synergies and avenues of cooperation between mediation actors and the diplomatic and technological communities.
The main results of the workshop were summarized in the “Toledo Declaration on A New European Initiative for Technology Diplomacy and Artificial Intelligence in Conflict Prevention and Mediation”, where the participants of the Workshop have highlighted ten guidelines for this new European initiative:
- The initiative should focus on building trust among all stakeholders as the core value, mitigating the effects of current breakdown of confidence and the abuse of digital technologies for spurious or unethical aims.
- The initiative would build multidisciplinary communities of practice with real commitment to effectively contributing to resolving existing problems and anticipating future risks and emerging challenges.
- The initiative should further the role of cultural heritage recording and documentation as a key element to inform the development of machine learning applications in the field of conflict prevention and mediation.
- The initiative would be based on the concept of data and knowledge spaces as new global goods, including the free-flow of public, private and personal data (always respecting fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons), as well as sharing use cases through building catalogues of technologies, qualified algorithms, opacity mitigation and consent channels, ex-ante auditing and privacy-by-design mechanisms for accountability of results and governance schemes. There is a need for a neutral and trusted space providing all parties in the negotiation and peace-building process with verified and transparent digital tools, data, models, reference cases and analyses.
- AI may be used at as many appropriate stages in conflict resolution as it is useful, such as to systematically analyse information flows and contexts of conflicts, build and preserve reputation, ensure the inclusion of underrepresented voices, and increase public communication, always promoting multidisciplinary team working. It is suggested to include the characteristic multistakeholder model of Internet governance. The same that has served to develop the work around the use of technology at a global level
- The values from The Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the European principles for building a Digital Democracy with a Purpose at the international level, will be the building blocks of the initiative with cyberpeace, digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy provisions as a foundation, and considering the potential negative impact of AI by design as well as in concrete usage in the lifecycle of the AI use for conflict mediation, rather than considering it as an afterthought.
- Capabilities, social knowledge, education for and governance of technological diplomacy and AI in particular appears as the most demanding framing conditions when discussing open issues regarding the governance of the digital landscape at a global level. The new initiative should thus focus on building concrete actions, making sure they can deliver results and promote innovative governance mechanisms for peer-learning exchanges and replicability/scalability.
- The initiative will contribute to the debate on promoting the set of harmonised standards and convergence of regulatory approaches and practices in mediation and conflict resolution, including guidelines (e.g. soft law, recommendations) for the deployment and use of digital technologies in vulnerable settings (e.g. as a measure to respond to the weaponization of information). The initiative could also foster the development of safe and secure AI.
- Experimenting with particular high-potential technologies appear to be required and should be based on the respect of human security, dignity, and equity, and on multicultural cooperation in the definition and establishment of e.g. digital twins, natural language processing, sandboxes, sentiment analysis, anomaly detection, contextual/personalized display of complex information, specific platforms and assistive services for mediation, and problem-solving strategies, among others.
- AI can contribute new tools for mediation and conflict resolution but also belongs to a new hybrid environment — physical (with its own particular craft) and virtual (with above-mentioned technological support), that is already part of the context. Investigating the implications of current living “in-between” the physical and online spheres is needed to better understand this new hybrid context and deploy appropriate solutions.
- It is recommended to establish an interdisciplinary and multistakeholder Working Group to implement the initiative, drawing on experience from policy, research and practice, and defining both an experimental “hands-on” approach using state of the art technologies and a broader dialogue on a framework for action at theoretical and methodological level, with case discussions and dissemination at high-level in scientific and policy events and fora.
Even if challenges remain in the usability and deployment of technologies, non-state / internal conflicts, preservation of respect, human dignity, discretion, privacy, existence of digital divides, cybersecurity risks, biases, false predictions and fake news fabrication, along with hate speech, the weaponization of information and, as a result, the erosion of trust, the time is ripe for Europe to build a technological governance framework and a European conflict resolution initiative. This initiative should embrace universal and European values and priorities, and promote the creation of a neutral and trusted space providing all parties in the negotiation and peace-building process with verified and transparent digital tools, data, models, reference cases and analyses.
Want to know more?
You can access the final ‘Toledo Declaration on a New European Initiative for Technology Diplomacy and Artificial Intelligence in Conflict Prevention and Mediation’ here:
And a couple references published on the news:
https://reimagine-europa.eu/can-tech-diplomacy-help-to-shape-a-better-world
