Marrying Artificial Intelligence and the Sustainable Development Goals: The global economic impact of AI

In 2015, world leaders at the United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the ambition by 2030 to end poverty, promote prosperity and well-being for all, and protect the planet. Technologies have long been seen as effective vehicles of growth, but the impact of recent forms like digitization, now morphing into artificial intelligence (AI), have been subject to debate. Tech-optimists believe that AI is the catalyst to a unique era of opportunity for many; skeptics argue that this optimistic view is far from warranted. Although digitization has created some prosperity, many digital divides remain. In the case of AI, many fear that it is a major substitute for work, replacing jobs that are often the only source of income for many citizens.