9/11 was over 20 years ago, but it still seems like just yesterday. Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues after a year and a half. The Global Conflict Tracker lists 27 current conflicts around the world. Will homo sapiens ever establish peace among peoples and nations?
Sunday on Global Public Square (GPS) Fareed Zakaria took a deep dive into Artificial Intelligence: Its Promise and Peril, interviewing Eric Schmidt, Chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Schmidt said AI needs to be given human-like behavioral rules as it moves toward recursive self-improvement, perhaps within the next five years. Google's DeepMind details some AI risks.
September 8, 2023, from 6:15 a.m. - 7:15 a.m. PDT the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is having an online conversation on AI and the Next Generation of Peacebuilders. The rapidly evolving world of AI offers "potential as both a beacon for peacebuilding and a challenge for global stability. The discussion will feature perspectives from USIP’s Youth Advisory Council and shed light on AI’s transformative implications for conflict resolution, societal structures, and the role of youth in shaping this digital future." Register here.
About the United States Institute of Peace
United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is "a national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded in 1984 by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical and essential for U.S. and global security." The USIP works “to save lives, increase the government’s ability to deal with conflicts before they escalate, reduce government costs, and enhance our national security.”
USIP has a Global Peacebuilding Center that has education programs, multimedia exhibits, and a Building Peace website with resources and activities. They focus mainly on students and educators, and seek to introduce the key concepts and skills in conflict management, and to the challenges and importance of peacebuilding. The website includes an interactive Virtual Passport experience and ways for young people to engage and connect as peacebuilders. It also features a Peacebuilding Toolkit for Educators – middle school and high school volumes – including lessons and activities to bring peacebuilding into the classroom.
USIP concerns itself with three phases of conflict: prevention, mediation and resolution, and post-conflict stabilization. The Institute is made up of three centers, with a fourth set of centers whose issues cross each phase of conflict.
USIP identifies and applies best practices in twenty topical areas whose issues cross each phase of conflict through this series of Centers.