Session
UNESCO
Opening remarks:
- Tawfik Jelassi, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO
Panelists:
- Amrita Choudhury, President of Internet Society Delhi Chapter
- Henrik Ahrens, Media Development Consultant, Qarib Programme Director, Canal France International (CFI)
- Justice Eliamani Laltaika, Judge of the High Court of Tanzania
- Davor Orlic, Chief Operating Officer, International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI)
Xu Jing, Programme Specialist, Communication and Information Sector, UNESCO
Prateek Sibal, Programme Specialist, Communication and Information Sector, UNESCO
SDG 5, SDG 10, SDG 13, SDG 16, SDG 17
Targets:
To harness artificial intelligence and digital technologies to foster efficiency and innovation in the public sector, media and judiciary, while upholding the principles of accessibility, openness, transparency, inclusion, and human-centered values.
Roundtable
This session will consist of two parts:
1. Exploring AI’s transformative potential: With senior representatives of the public sector, media, judiciary, UNESCO and IRCAI, the first part will primarily delve into how AI is transforming these sectors by improving efficiency, decision-making processes, and fostering civic engagement. It will also address key ethical challenges such as bias, data security, human rights protection, and AI-generated misinformation.
2. Providing a world preview of the UNESCO-IRCAI Online Repository of AI Tools for the Public Sector, Media, and Judiciary: The second part will feature a demonstration of the beta version of the online repository. Participants will have an opportunity to explore its key components and functionalities while learning about its human rights-based approach and alignment with principles of accessibility and openness.
On-site participants will be able to take part in an interactive demonstration of the repository on their own devices with guidance from a technical moderator. Online participants will have the opportunity to join a Q&A session at the end via the chat box.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way we work across multiple fields, offering unprecedented opportunities to enhance efficiency, transparency, and service delivery. This session will explore how AI tools are transforming three sectors – the public sector, media, and judiciary – and how these innovations can be harnessed to create more responsive, citizen-centered systems.
In the public sector, AI is helping automate routine tasks such as data entry, allowing civil servants to focus on more complex responsibilities. Data analysis tools are aiding in policy formation and decision-making, while AI-powered chatbots provide instant, personalized services to citizens. However, alongside these benefits come important ethical concerns, including issues of data security, human rights, and bias that must be addressed to ensure responsible AI use.
AI is transforming the media sector by improving news gathering, content production, audience analytics, and operational efficiency. These tools help detect underreported stories, engage audiences more effectively, and fight misinformation. However, disparities in AI adoption among media outlets threaten to limit cultural diversity and access to information. Moreover, the rise of AI-generated misinformation poses serious threats to human rights, particularly for vulnerable groups like women journalists. Media organizations also face challenges with AI companies using their content without fair compensation.
In the judiciary, AI tools are being used for legal research, case management, and courtroom procedures—improving both efficiency and access to justice. However, concerns remain about the ethical implications of using AI in legal decision-making, especially in cases involving discrimination or human rights violations.
To support stakeholders in these three critical sectors – public sector, media, and judiciary – UNESCO has partnered with the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) to develop an Online Repository of AI Tools. This repository will serve as a one-stop resource for stakeholders to identify and leverage open-source and ethical AI tools that can enhance their operations. The repository will curate the most useful tools with a focus on accessibility, openness, transparency, and ethical use.
Report
AI is revolutionizing the public sector, media, and judiciary by improving efficiency, enabling better decision-making, and fostering innovation. Existing good practices of utilizing AI in these three sectors include AI-powered spam detection, translations and transcriptions, media audience engagement, judicial case scheduling and management, courtroom procedures and legal research.
While AI unlocks opportunities, it also raises challenges, including bias, misuse, and AI-generated mis- and disinformation. The principles of transparency, accessibility, and human oversight are essential to mitigate risks and ensure AI serves the public good.
UNESCO, in collaboration with the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI), is developing an Online Repository of AI Tools for the Public Sector, Media and Judiciary. This avant-garde and multilingual platform curates open-source and ethical AI tools that can enhance the operations of stakeholders in these three sectors and provides practical guidelines to help address sector-specific challenges.
Further efforts are required to leverage the power of AI tools to improve efficiency, decision-making, and innovation across the public sector, media and judiciary. Special attention should be paid to underserved regions and resource-limited communities, such as the LDCs and small media outlets, to ensure inclusive and equitable adoption.
It is critical that organizations establish clear internal policies to adopt AI transparently and effectively. These policies should focus on addressing operational challenges, defining acceptable practices, and ensuring human oversight to build trust and accountability.
The session “Unlocking the Power of AI across the Public Sector, Media, and Judiciary: A UNESCO-IRCAI Online Repository of AI Tools” explored how artificial intelligence (AI) is driving innovation and efficiency in the public sector, media, and judiciary. The session shed light on good practices of AI implementation in these three sectors, discussed challenges and notable gaps, and showcased the beta version of the UNESCO-IRCAI Online Repository of AI Tools for the Public Sector, Media and Judiciary, a multilingual web platform designed for stakeholders in the three sectors and providing access to ethical, open-source AI tools with practical guidelines.
AI’s transformative potential across the public sector, media and judiciary:
The panellists highlighted success stories from their countries and regions of leveraging AI to enhance operations, foster innovation, and address specific challenges in the public sector, media and judiciary.
In the public sector, AI is being used to address global challenges such as climate change by analysing data and providing actionable insights to inform policy and strategy. In India for instance, AI is applied by government agencies and civil society organizations for translations of public documents into regional languages, transcriptions, and the detection of spam and false information in telecommunications.
AI is reshaping the media landscape by enhancing newsgathering, content production and delivery, and audience engagement. Examples from media in several Arab countries such as Jordan illustrated how AI tools are being used to produce data-driven investigations and Arabic-language podcasts, aggregate data about user consumption and interests, and optimize media workflows.
In the judiciary, AI is supporting legal research, case management, and courtroom procedures, assisting courts in handling workloads. A judge panellist form Tanzania shared that they have adopted AI-powered scheduling systems and document translations to streamline judicial processes and enhance efficiency.
Addressing challenges and ensuring responsible AI use:
The discussions highlighted some broader challenges and risks associated with AI adoption, including bias, misuse, data security, and the proliferation of AI-generated mis- and disinformation. Addressing these issues requires proactive measures to ensure AI tools are used as catalysts for positive change that are trustworthy and accessible to all.
The session stressed the importance of principles such as transparency, openness, accessibility, and human oversight as essential foundations for responsible AI use. Establishing clear internal policies is critical to guide the ethical, transparent, and effective implementation of AI tools, fostering trust and accountability. It underlined some gaps in the use of AI in these three sectors, and that special attention should be paid to equitable access to AI tools in underserved regions such as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and resource-limited communities like small media outlets.
Preview of a UNESCO-IRCAI Online Repository of AI Tools:
A key highlight of the session was the preview of the Online Repository of AI Tools for the Public Sector, Media and Judiciary, being developed by UNESCO in collaboration with the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI).
This avant-garde, multilingual platform provides stakeholders in the public sector, media, and judiciary with access to curated ethical and open-source AI tools that are useful for their day-to-day operations. Designed in response to the need for a centralised, user-friendly resource, the repository also provides practical guidelines to help users adopt and integrate AI solutions effectively and ethically. Stakeholders are encouraged to engage with the repository once it is open for testing, provide feedback on its functionalities, and recommend additional AI tools being used in their respective sector to ensure the repository evolves dynamically and remains relevant to stakeholders’ emerging needs worldwide.