Abstract
On October 25, 2015, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) set forth an agenda which included 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to transform the world by 2030. The agenda set forth a plan of action that recognized a myriad of challenges which, if surmounted, could empower people, benefit the planet, and create an impetus for worldwide prosperity.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and its economic and social fallout, the world today is not on track to attain the SDGs by the year 2030. However, the disruptive impact of the pandemic on many areas of life among other things was in a sense a “game changer” with respect to our (human) approaches to artificial intelligence (AI) and to AI itself. The global pandemic caused a major shift with regard to AI. It revealed that in this day and time AI is a necessity for the flourishing of humanity worldwide. It is no longer a luxury. Developed and developing countries alike were caught unaware by the COVID disruption. All experienced gaps in healthcare and education delivery and increased poverty in one form or another. In this situation, AI turned out to be not merely useful, it quickly proved itself to be indispensable. In a world that is still struggling to recover from the pandemic, AI has and will continue to play a major role in transforming the work of poverty alleviation, hence affecting the advancement of the poverty-related SDGs.
The chapter will present examples of AI implementation in areas of the world where poverty is significant: China, India, and two countries in Africa. It will look at rural poverty specifically, although urban poverty is growing at expediential rates, and examine how AI has affected the work of alleviating poverty through improving healthcare delivery and strengthening access to education. The analysis will delve into the advancement of specific SDGs with the use of AI, such as SDG #1 no poverty, SDG #3 good health and well-being, SDG #4 quality education, and SDG #10 reduced inequalities. Finally, this chapter will draw policy implications for the work of fighting extreme poverty in a post-COVID and increasingly AI-enabled world.
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Notes
- 1.
The World Bank updated the nominal poverty line from $1.25 to $1.90 per day in 2015. The change in dollar value of the line reflects changes in the estimated purchasing power parity (PPP) of the dollar in poor countries. The line seeks to keep the real value constant even though relative prices change. The PPP exchange rates allow a comparison of the prices of goods and services across countries. This same poverty line is used by the United Nations and others to track progress in the elimination of extreme poverty and to measure the accountability of the international community in reporting progress (Principles and Practice in Measuring Global Poverty 2016).
- 2.
Intelligent medicine is a term that originated with Dr. Ronald L. Hoffman in his book of the same title. Hoffman defined the term as a complete spectrum of healthcare options, but the term has evolved since his book was published in 1997. The State Council of China defines it as integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technology with medical care to improve healthcare services. For more information see Lung (2018, May 8) China launches national association to speed up integration of AI with healthcare. https://opengovasia.com/china-launches-national-association-to-speed-up-integration-of-ai-with-healthcare/
- 3.
Tencent has a broad portfolio of interests similar to Google’s parent company Alphabet. First quarter earnings 2020 showed revenue of 108 billion Chinese yuan (US $15.2 billion). For more information see Kleinman (2020, August 7). What is Tencent? BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53696743
- 4.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) (considered by some to be the New Silk Road) is a vast collection of development and investment projects that would eventually stretch from East Asia to Europe expanding the political and economic influence of China. Development of the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) is a part of this BRI expansion plan. For more information refer to the Council on Foreign Relations “China’s Massive Belt and Road Initiative” 2020 January 28. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative
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Goralski, M.A., Tan, T.K. (2023). Artificial Intelligence: Poverty Alleviation, Healthcare, Education, and Reduced Inequalities in a Post-COVID World. In: Mazzi, F., Floridi, L. (eds) The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence for the Sustainable Development Goals . Philosophical Studies Series, vol 152. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21147-8_6
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