AI as a Digital Public Good: Insights from ADB’s Research

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be considered a type of Digital Public Good (DPG). However, alongside its significant potential, it introduces new challenges compared to traditional DPGs. The existing DPG standard does not fully accommodate AI, as safeguarding principles - such as “privacy by design” and “do no harm”- must be rigorously enforced and elevated. At the same time, the concept of “open source”, which is central to DPGs, was originally developed for code and does not fully capture the complexity of AI, which also includes data and model weights.

Building on the work of the Community of Practice (CoP) on AI as Digital Public Goods (AIDPG), co-led by DPGA and UNICEF, this session aims to present new research findings on AIDPG, sharing a set of actionable recommendations for definition, standard, and governance of AIDPG. The research is commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in partnership with the United Nations University Institute in Macau (UNU Macau) and the UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (UN ODET), and in close collaboration with DPGA.

‍Partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB), UNU-Macau, UN-ODET, Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA)

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