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Uruguay assumed presidency of Digital 9

22/11/18

On November 21 and 22, the summit of the group of the most digitally advanced governments -D9- was held in Israel. Uruguay has been a member of this group since February of this year and has now assumed its presidency.
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In February of this year, Uruguay was the first Latin American country to join this workspace of countries with the most digitized governments in the world.

 

During the D9 summit held in Jerusalem, Uruguay assumed the presidency of the group. Juan Andrés Roballo, Deputy Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic, informed that this implies organizing the summit next year in our country and, at the same time, leading the working groups on digital identity, artificial intelligence and digital rights.

 

Initially known as D5 due to the number of countries (South Korea, Estonia, Israel, New Zealand and the United Kingdom) that were part of it at the beginning, it is a group created in 2014 that brings together leaders in Digital Government. In February 2018 it was renamed D7, as Canada and Uruguay joined; and from this summit, it began to be called D9 after the inclusion of Mexico and Portugal. 

 

The collective objective is to share experiences and lessons learned, with the mission of achieving more efficient services for the population of the countries. In addition to the plenary sessions, the delegation, chaired by the Prosecretary of the Presidency, held bilateral meetings with the Minister of Israel, Gila Gamliel (social equity); Estonia, Rene Tammist (entrepreneurship and IT); Republic of Korea, Kim Boo Kyum (interior and security) and Portugal, Maria Marques (administrative modernization).

 

"In Uruguay, the introduction of technology has been a fundamental tool for equity and social inclusion, values that are at the heart of our digital public policies," Roballo said. In addition to universal Internet access, livestock traceability and the Ceibal Plan, among other projects, the Ibirapitá Plan -which focuses on the digital inclusion of senior citizens- captured the attention of those who participated in the Summit.

 

Artificial Intelligence and ethics: axes of the work

 

Regarding the workspace on artificial intelligence, Roballo remarked the benefits and the progress that its use implies in areas of human knowledge such as health, education, industry, agriculture, energy, among others; however, he warned about the international studies that warn about the risks involved and the precautions that should be taken.

 

By way of example, he mentioned biased algorithms, the lack of transparency in automated decision-making mechanisms, the undermining of the democratic system when public opinion is affected through disinformation or deliberate lies, as well as the affectation of people's privacy.

 

He stressed that technology and the legal framework are not sufficient guarantees, but that it is also necessary to incorporate other disciplines such as ethics. According to Roballo, "the European data protection supervisor generated a working space on the subject; not to indicate what is right or what is wrong, but to generate a reflection on the development of people and respect for their dignity".

 

In Uruguay and from a cross-cutting perspective, Agesic promotes a strategy for the application of Artificial Intelligence in Digital Government. The Miem is working on a roadmap for data science and machine learning with a focus on the country's productive development. Likewise, the Ceibal Plan created an ethics committee made up of experts from multiple disciplines and sectors.

 

Roballo invited to deepen a work that involves the concept of ethics by default, that is, that technological developments cannot be undertaken without an ethical framework.

 

The work agenda included meetings in which the executive director of Agesic, José Clastornik, participated, where the countries agreed on a joint declaration that recognizes the need to design appropriate policies and regulations that allow understanding, measuring and analyzing the results and decisions when using Artificial Intelligence.

 

Finally, Uruguay presented the country's progress in recent months, highlighting initiatives such as the digitization of procedures, the gub.uy portal, Blockchain in public records, spatial data infrastructure, mobile identity and the digital security operations center.

 

"We are contributing to building the direction of digital government globally and being part of the debate on issues that impact our national strategies," Clastornik concluded.

 

 

 

 

Source: Agesic

 

 

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