Main Session 1: Global Access, Global Progress: Managing the Challenges of Global Digital Adoption

Summary

This discussion focused on the challenges and opportunities of global digital adoption, addressing both the need to connect the unconnected and the implications of bringing large populations online. Panelists emphasized the importance of connectivity for economic empowerment, education, and healthcare, sharing personal stories to illustrate its impact. They highlighted barriers such as infrastructure costs, device affordability, and lack of relevant content and skills.

The conversation stressed the need for collaboration between governments, private sector, and civil society to create enabling policy environments and incentivize investments. Speakers discussed various approaches, including community-centered connectivity solutions, open-source technologies, and digital public infrastructure. The role of emerging technologies like AI in bridging digital divides was explored, with examples of how they can enhance accessibility and create localized solutions.

Panelists also addressed the challenges that come with increased connectivity, such as online safety and mental health concerns, particularly for young users. The importance of digital literacy and skills development was emphasized, along with the need to involve youth meaningfully in shaping digital policies and technologies.

The discussion highlighted successful examples of technology use in civic participation, healthcare, and education from various countries. Speakers stressed the importance of creating inclusive digital ecosystems that respect local cultures and languages. The overall consensus was that while technology presents challenges, it also offers powerful tools for solving global issues when implemented thoughtfully and collaboratively.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The importance of connecting everyone to the internet and bridging the digital divide

– Challenges in providing connectivity, including infrastructure, affordability, and digital literacy

– The need for public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder cooperation to expand connectivity

– Leveraging emerging technologies like AI to provide inclusive access and services

– Ensuring online safety, digital skills, and meaningful use of technology, especially for youth

The overall purpose of the discussion was to explore ways to expand internet connectivity globally while also addressing the challenges that come with bringing large populations online rapidly.

The tone of the discussion was largely optimistic and solution-oriented. Speakers highlighted positive examples of how technology is being used to empower communities and improve lives. At the same time, there was acknowledgment of the significant challenges that remain in bridging digital divides. The conversation maintained a constructive tone focused on collaboration and innovative approaches to expand meaningful connectivity.

Speakers

– Timea Suto – Global digital policy lead at the International Chamber of Commerce, moderator

– Gbenga Sesan – Executive Director at Paradigm Initiative

– Thelma Quaye – Director of Digital Infrastructure Skills and Empowerment at Smart Africa

– Sally Wentworth – President and CEO of the Internet Society

– Takuo Imagawa – Vice Minister, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan

– Alaa Abdulaal – Chief of Digital Economy Foresight at the Digital Cooperation Organization

– Jose Renato Laranjeira de Pereira – Co-founder of the Laboratory of Public Policy and Internet, researcher at the University of Bonn in Sustainable AI Lab

– Shivnath Thukral – Vice President for Public Policy for META in India

– Tami Bhaumik – Vice President, Civility and Partnerships at Roblox, Chair of the Board of the Family Online Safety Institute

Additional speakers:

– Audience members (various unnamed individuals who asked questions or made comments)

Revised Summary of Global Digital Adoption Discussion

Introduction and Key Themes

This discussion brought together experts from various sectors to explore the challenges and opportunities of global digital adoption. The conversation focused on strategies for connecting the unconnected, addressing the implications of rapidly bringing large populations online, and leveraging technology for development. Speakers shared personal experiences and case studies to illustrate the impact of connectivity on economic empowerment, education, and healthcare.

Key themes that emerged included:

1. The critical importance of internet connectivity for development

2. Challenges and opportunities of expanding digital access

3. The role of different stakeholders in advancing digital inclusion

4. Leveraging technology for development and public services

5. The importance of digital literacy and safety education

6. Including youth and local communities in technology development and policy-making

Importance of Connectivity and Digital Inclusion

Speakers unanimously agreed on the critical importance of internet connectivity for development. Gbenga Sesan emphasised that “connectivity could be a matter of life and death”, highlighting its role in enabling access to healthcare and education. Thelma Quaye provided context, noting that only 40% of Africans are connected to the internet due to infrastructure and affordability challenges.

Different approaches to achieving connectivity were discussed:

– Sally Wentworth advocated for community-centred connectivity approaches, empowering local communities to build and maintain their own networks.

– Takuo Imagawa highlighted Japan’s success in achieving near-universal connectivity through a mix of competition policy and government support. He also mentioned Japan’s initiatives in promoting research and development of non-terrestrial network technologies.

– Shivnath Thukral discussed the potential of open-source technologies and AI to bridge connectivity gaps and language barriers.

Challenges and Opportunities of Bringing People Online

While expanding connectivity was a primary focus, speakers also addressed the challenges that come with increased internet access:

– Thelma Quaye emphasized the need for relevant content, affordability of devices, and political will to solve connectivity issues.

– Sally Wentworth stressed the importance of ensuring people have the skills to participate safely and securely in the digital economy once connected.

– Jose Renato Laranjeira de Pereira highlighted that indigenous communities face both benefits and risks from increased connectivity.

– Tami Bhaumik emphasised the importance of digital literacy and safety education, especially for children and parents.

Speakers also noted positive outcomes of increased connectivity:

– Gbenga Sesan pointed out that technology enables civic participation and political engagement for young people, citing the example of the ReVoter app used for election monitoring in Nigeria.

– Alaa Abdulaal mentioned the potential of platforms for sharing digital solutions between countries to accelerate adoption, highlighting the Digital Cooperation Organization’s Digital Economy Navigator tool and Impact platform.

Role of Different Stakeholders in Advancing Digital Inclusion

The discussion highlighted the need for collaboration between various stakeholders:

– Thelma Quaye argued for government intervention and public-private partnerships to connect underserved areas.

– Takuo Imagawa emphasised the importance of multistakeholder cooperation to address digital divide challenges.

– Tami Bhaumik discussed the responsibility of technology companies to develop safety tools and digital literacy resources, mentioning Roblox’s partnership with the UN to develop helplines for developing nations.

– Sally Wentworth noted that civil society coalitions can leverage technology to advocate for better policies, citing the example of the global encryption coalition.

Leveraging Technology for Development and Public Services

Speakers provided various examples of how technology is being used to address development challenges:

– Shivnath Thukral discussed how AI and open-source technologies can enable localised solutions for agriculture, education, and government services in India.

– Jose Renato Laranjeira de Pereira mentioned platforms connecting homeless workers to job opportunities as an example of appropriating technology for social good.

– An audience member highlighted how technology facilitates transparency and citizen engagement in governance and constitution-making, citing a digital platform for constitutional feedback in Guinea.

– Thelma Quaye shared how AI-powered drones are improving healthcare delivery in remote areas of Rwanda and mentioned Smart Africa’s work in using AI to harmonize policies across countries.

– An audience member emphasized the importance of maintaining analog options alongside digital solutions for public services.

Importance of Digital Literacy and Safety Education

Throughout the discussion, speakers emphasized the critical role of digital literacy and safety education:

– Tami Bhaumik stressed the need for comprehensive digital literacy programs targeting both children and parents.

– Sally Wentworth highlighted the importance of equipping people with skills to navigate the digital world safely and securely.

– Speakers agreed that digital literacy should be integrated into education systems from an early age.

Including Youth and Local Communities in Technology Development and Policy-Making

Several speakers emphasized the importance of involving youth and local communities in shaping digital technologies and policies:

– Tami Bhaumik advocated for including teens and youth in the development of online safety policies and technologies.

– Jose Renato Laranjeira de Pereira stressed the importance of involving indigenous communities in decisions about technology adoption.

– Gbenga Sesan highlighted how young people are leveraging technology for civic engagement and political participation.

Key Takeaways and Action Items

1. Develop platforms for sharing successful digital solutions between countries.

2. Integrate digital literacy into education systems from an early age.

3. Create safety tools and resources for parents and children using online platforms.

4. Involve youth meaningfully in technology policy development processes.

5. Use a mix of government support and market competition to expand connectivity.

6. Maintain analog options for public services alongside digital solutions.

7. Leverage open-source technologies to enable localised and sovereign digital solutions.

8. Address affordability issues for devices and connectivity in low-income areas.

9. Ensure equitable access to emerging technologies like AI across different regions.

10. Use AI tools to make constitutional drafting and legal processes more interactive and accessible to citizens.

Conclusion

The discussion highlighted the complex and multifaceted nature of global digital adoption. While there was strong agreement on the importance of connectivity and the need for collaborative approaches, the conversation also revealed the challenges of balancing rapid digitalisation with safety, cultural preservation, and equitable access. The speakers’ diverse perspectives and experiences underscored the need for context-specific solutions and ongoing dialogue to ensure that digital technologies are leveraged effectively and responsibly for global development.

Moving forward, priorities should include:

1. Developing comprehensive strategies to address connectivity gaps, particularly in underserved areas.

2. Investing in digital literacy and safety education programs.

3. Creating mechanisms for meaningful youth and community involvement in technology policy.

4. Fostering international cooperation to share best practices and digital solutions.

5. Ensuring that digital transformation respects and preserves cultural values while promoting development.

By addressing these priorities, stakeholders can work towards a more inclusive and equitable digital future that harnesses the power of technology to drive sustainable development and improve lives globally.

Timea Suto: managing the challenges of global digital adoption. My name is Timea Suto, I’m going to be your moderator today. In my day job I am global digital policy lead at the International Chamber of Commerce. Today we are gathering for this main session under the theme of the IGF, harnessing innovation and balancing risk in the digital space, which I think is one of the main themes of all of the conversations we’ve been recently having on digital policy and internet governance, so it’s quite timely that we address this here at the IGF. What we will try and do in this session is connect two parts that I like to say that come with bringing people online. First of all, what can we do to actually make sure that everyone, everywhere, every day has connectivity, that they are able to connect to the internet, that they are able to access services that are relevant to them, that they are in their own languages, and that they can actually make use of, that want them to come online. And then of course that everybody has the skills to make sure that they can participate once in the online world, once they are online, whether that it’s for a social activity, whether that it’s for an economic activity, or whatever other service they want to access. But then once we bring populations online, and as we carry on doing, what happens then? Is that the end goal, to bring people online? Have we solved everything once everybody is connected? And that is going to be the second part of our session. What are the challenges of actually bringing a lot of people online at the same time, and what happens once they are online? So these are the two actual main themes that we would like to discover in this session together, and I have a distinguished list of panelists here to help me answer those questions. I’m very glad I don’t have to bring the answers, I will be just asking the questions today. So first we will have Mr. Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director at Paradigm Initiative. Then we hope we will be joined by Ms. Thelma Quay, we’re waiting for her to join our session, Director of Digital Infrastructure Skills and Empowerment at Smart Africa. Then we have Ms. Sally Wentworth, President and CEO of the Internet Society. Dr. Takuo Imagawa, Vice Minister, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan. Ms. Alaa Abdullah, Chief of Digital Economy Foresight at the Digital Cooperation Organization. Mr. José Renato Laranjeira de Pereira, Co-founder of the Laboratory of Public Policy and Internet, and a researcher at the University of Bonn in Sustainable AI Lab. Hi Thelma, so great to have you. Then we have Mr. Srimad Tukral, Vice President for Public Policy for META in India. And then last but not least, Ms. Tami Bhaumik, Vice President, Civility and Partnerships at Roblox, also the Chair of the Board of the Family Online Safety Institute. So without further ado, we are going to jump into our first segment of the panel, trying to figure out how we make sure that we bring everybody online, what is still left to do in this very important task. And after we hear first from the half of the panel, we’ll turn to questions and comments from the floor. So please know there will be microphones circulating around the room. room when you are ready to ask your questions. So as the speakers are speaking, think of what you might want to ask them as they speak. So my first speaker today is Gbenga Sesan, and, Sibenga, I’d like to ask you a little bit about why is it so important that we connect everybody? Why is it so important, especially to connect those who are living in remote or hard to access areas, and how does this work in your region?

Gbenga Sesan: Thank you. I’m tempted to say, and I will say, connectivity could be a matter of life and death. We write an annual report on digital rights and inclusion at Paradigm Initiative, and one of the stories that really, really, really paints this picture for me is a story of a woman who was three minutes away from missing medical intervention, because the telecom services in our country were shut down, but someone just knew that it was just mobile phone connectivity that was shut down, and they could get Wi-Fi signal to make a voice over IP call. It sounds like when we talk about connectivity, at times it sounds like, oh, it’s nice to have, but in many cases, in health care, it could be a matter of life and death. In education, it’s a matter, it’s a difference between somebody who was born into poverty and who walks to literally eradicate poverty in just one generation. We do training programs for young people, and one of the stories that I love is the story of Famous and also the story of Esther, but let me tell one of the stories. Famous was told by his parents, you’ve gone through secondary school, that’s it, that’s all we have. Your younger sister has to go to school, so when you get to SS3 and you graduate, go find a job somewhere at a factory and just work there. Famous walked down the street and found our training center in his local community, a slum in Lagos, Nigeria called Ajegunle. He walked in, saw that we had computers, showed interest, signed up for a six-week training program. After six weeks, Famous paid, for some reason, paid attention to Microsoft Excel. He just loves spreadsheets, and we asked him, why spreadsheets? Well, he says, it sounds cool, spreadsheets. That was what made a difference in his life, because a few months after he finished, he saw an advertisement for an internship. He applied for it. He got the internship at the UK Deputy High Commission in Lagos. While he was on that internship, he saw another opportunity for a full-time job at the UK High Commission in Abuja, and when he told me he was going to apply, I was like, well, maybe not. You don’t have a degree, and there are not too many people who will be able to apply for this. But of course, he was so sure of his knowledge of spreadsheets, he applied, and he got the job. To cut a long story short, Famous got the job. His excitement was that the embassy sent a car to his house, because he needed to fly for the interview, and that if he didn’t get a job, that was fine. But he got the job, spent six months on that job, resigned because he had saved enough, went to the university, graduated, got a job at KPMG. That was in 2009, sorry, not 2009. Today, Famous is a manager at KPMG in New Jersey. That is what is possible with connecting people. It is not theory. It is my story. It is Famous’s story. It is a story of every young woman, every young man who gets access to opportunities. It is a story of every person who has access to healthcare, because they can connect with the services, even though they have as many doctors in the village. But this is why it is important. Every time we say we must connect the rest of the world, the last third of the world, we’re not saying that because it’s nice to have, because we would like to say that in Riyadh, so that everybody will hear it. It’s because just as we found out during COVID, businesses, education, healthcare will come to a standstill, especially in the times of emergency, if we do not have connectivity. And that is why it’s important. It is important because if the story of Famous were told without connectivity, it would most likely be working in a factory, which is not a bad thing, if that is the only chance you have. But right now, his entire family has moved, one generation has moved out of poverty because of his chance connection to training, mentorship, and connectivity. And that is what we must do for the rest of the world.

Timea Suto: Well, I think that’s a very inspiring start for this conversation. There is no better stories than the personal development stories to actually illustrate and make it real of why we are doing what we are all doing in our day jobs and why we are talking about this up on this stage. With that, I’m going to turn to Thelma, and to follow the same sort of question that I’ve addressed to Pramila, I’d just like to ask a little bit about your views and Smart Africa’s views of connecting the next billions, and what do you think are the barriers that exist still for us achieving the goal of connecting everybody?

Thelma Quaye: Thank you very much. And apologies, I was in another session that took a bit of time. So you know, there are a lot of Famouses, and another perspective to it is, I also have a story of a lady called Aisha, and for her, she hasn’t gone through training, but for her it was just the access to a phone and WhatsApp, that’s changed her life in terms of her business. She sells shea butter in Ghana in her small locality, but when she was able to afford a phone, which we know is one of the barriers, when she was able to afford connectivity, So, for me, it’s a utility, just like we are fighting for electricity, water, Internet, it’s equally a utility. But then, what are the barriers? Why do we still have only 40% of Africans connected to the Internet? Why do we still have so little access to the Internet? So, for me, it’s a utility, just like we are fighting for electricity, water, Internet, it’s equally a utility. Why do we still have only 40% of Africans connected? Traditionally, it has been the mobile network operators investing. Africa is connected because we have a lot of mobile network operators investing. But then, they are at the point where it doesn’t make business sense now. Putting up a tower in that village where Aisha lives doesn’t make business sense. Because the number of people there will just not make the return on investment. So, we need government intervention now. It doesn’t have to be a private sector thing anymore. It has to be a PPP where government is now investing in infrastructure, for instance, and giving this infrastructure to the private sector to build upon. It has to be also a collaborative effort, for instance, where private sector or the Internet service providers are now agreeing that let’s share infrastructure to reduce our costs, for instance. So, that’s one challenge. The other challenge has been, you know, the likes of Aisha, when you give her a phone, what does she do with it? If you look at the content structure of Africa, a lot of our content, Internet content, is on entertainment. And so, a lot of them will not understand what they have to do with it, if it’s just entertainment. But if we then now put content that allows them to learn, or even allows them to trade their words, or we teach them how to sell their words, the economic activity, if we give them content that are relevant, then they are able to, you know, make use of it. And then, finally, is, you know, the cost of handsets. I think this morning, Ms. Bogdan-Martin mentioned it, how expensive it is to get a handset. We tried in Rwanda, with Marathons, to try and assemble phones, so it becomes cheaper, but it wasn’t cheap. The cheapest was around $120. That’s very expensive for the average African. So, we need to also see how we make devices cheaper. Now, I’m not talking about future phones, because we did a survey with the youth, and they said, look, I want that iPhone that you’re holding, but I want it at the cost that I can afford. I don’t want to buy it at that amount. So, we need to talk to, and I know there are stakeholders here, the Googles of this world, the Qualcomm’s, the people in, part of bringing a device, but also the government, on the government side. What are the taxes that can be taken out? What are the incentives that can be taken out to make these smartphones, not future phones, smartphones affordable so we can all use it? In fact, if you look at the coverage, you know, situation of Africa, over 80% has mobile coverage. But 40% are connected, and that’s because of affordability. And then there comes skills, and then, you know, relevancy of the content. And these are all things that we can do about, we can do something about. The only thing that I think we’ve talked too much about and done nothing is the investment part. In terms of the government coming in to invest, we have the universal service access funds. If you check the status of these funds across some countries, some are dormant, some are being used for all sorts of other things that are not, you know, that they are not supposed to be used for. So why don’t we go back to why these funds were created to solve the situation? For me, I think we’ve spoken about it for too long. The solution lies in front of us, and governments are able if their will is there. So the issue, one other barrier I’ll add before I end is the political will. We need to have that political will to solve this issue. Let’s not, you know, continue talking. We can do something about it, and let’s do something about it. Thank you.

Timea Suto: Thank you very much, Thelma. There’s quite a lot in a very short intervention, but I think what is important to bring out, because it showed up a number of times as you were speaking, is this need of the private sector and the public sector cooperation, and creating those policy incentives together to make sure that the market works in every region and in every circumstance, and that actually requires a lot of collaboration between the government and the private sector. So I’m going to turn to Sally, who has worked on this issue for quite some time now, and in coming into this role that you have now with ISOC, I’m just asking what is ISOC’s perspectives on these issues, and what are some of the work that you have done in this area together?

Sally Wentworth: Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak on this topic. This topic of connectivity is one that’s very near to the Internet Society’s heart. Our mission and vision is that the Internet is for everyone. And so the fact that we still have over a third of the world’s population not connected to the Internet means that we have a lot of work to do, and that’s work that the Internet Society is very committed to. I was taken with the stories of my colleagues before me, and particularly the story of Aisha, where she’s in a community where there may not be a business incentive to connect. The Internet Society has been in the space of connecting hard-to-reach communities for whom there may not be an initial business incentive, and what we do is really look at a community-centered approach, a bottom-up approach to connectivity that ensures that people in their local communities are empowered, are resourced, are trained, and are skilled enough to build the community networks or to build the networks for themselves. We believe that with a small investment, and we have quite a bit of experience with this, that local communities that are supported in this way can build the networks, they can maintain the networks, they can sustain their connectivity, and ultimately they can defend it. And that is a hugely powerful model of connectivity that I think we need to look more at as a global community as we think about how we bridge this final digital divide. We have done this since 2020. We have provided funding and technical assistance to over 60 community-centered connectivity solutions around the world, and this is a major part of our strategy going forward. And I was asked to provide a few examples, and just a few minutes before I walked in here, I stopped by the booth of the Internet Society chapter in Tanzania, who last year was awarded with the WSIS Prize for the Tanzania Digital Inclusion Project, which really does embody this community-centered connectivity approach. And here, what they say is that they have connected over 1,800 citizens to affordable and meaningful broadband internet, trained 4,000 youth and women… on essential digital skills, are training teachers on e-learning skills. This is all being done by the local community for themselves. They understand what is needed, they understand what the gap is, and by ensuring that through, in this case, a chapter, that ensures that that connectivity is sustainable over the long run. They’re actually, interestingly now, looking at a program to make the smartphones more affordable, particularly for women entrepreneurs, through a financing program that allows them to use this technology then for their own social enterprises and the like. We’ve seen these kind of solutions work both in Africa, outside of Africa. We were very happy to deploy the highest community network in the world, in Mount Everest, to connect the Sherpa communities in Nepal, who are feeling the effects of climate change on their economy, and the lack of connectivity has been a real barrier for their people to participate in the digital economy going forward. By connecting that community, they now have access to medical care, but also to skills and training opportunities that might expand the economies in those communities. Airbnb is coming in. Some of the Sherpas are now opening their homes via Airbnb, and again, providing different kinds of opportunities for that community to participate in the global digital economy. So this model of community-centered connectivity, we don’t have to wait for the solutions to come in. Communities can connect themselves, I think is a powerful approach to this, and one that, again, as I said, the Internet Society has been committed to and will continue to be committed to. Going forward, and I know this is the topic for the second part of this panel, what we wanna really think about and work with partners on is, as we’re bringing these populations online, how do we ensure that they have the skills and the expertise to participate in the global digital economy safely and securely? So it’s not enough to just bring connectivity in. We need to ensure that people have the skills to participate safely and in a way that gives them confidence that their information is protected and that they feel safe and secure. So these are things that we’re taking very seriously and I think are important as we think about how we bring connectivity to the final 2 billion people who are not online.

Timea Suto: Thank you, Sally. You’ve mentioned the importance of making sure that in the communities, there are ways of building up networks. There’s the importance then to connect the small networks to the larger grid and also making this work in a way that it works in investment, it works for the trainings, and it works for the long-term sustainability and resilience of these networks. So there’s a lot of works between the various different partners and stakeholders on making all of this happen. I’m curious, Dr. Imagawa, how do you see this from the Japanese perspective and from your perspective in sitting in the government? What are the actions that governments can take to help incentivize connectivity?

Takuo Imagawa: Well, thank you, Chair. I looked at a little bit different point of view in this panel. Well, despite the advancement in digital technology, there remain. the world. We have a global network of 2. 6 billion people worldwide who are not yet connected to the Internet and there are still many people who can fully enjoy the benefits of digital technology. It is crucial to further accelerate international cooperation to build an inclusive digital society. As you know, emerging technologies such as AI can only be effectively utilized when connectivity is realized. It is important to ensure that we have a global network of 2. 6 billion people worldwide who are not yet connected to the Internet and there are still many people who can fully enjoy the benefits of digital technology. Also, we should avoid letting these emerging technologies create a further divide. In addition to providing physical access, it is essential to ensure that these technologies are affordable and that individuals have the necessary literacy and skills. Also, we should continue the work on creating ASTRA and accessible networks for everyone. It is still overview, but the U.N. summit, the first thing listed in the IDBC and importance of UMC is mentioned. Commitment can’t be accomplished through the IGF. It is a very important issue and the IGF has been mentioned many times. Significant efforts have already been made and we need to continue building on these achievements. In particular, next year makes the WSIS plus 20 review. The WSIS initiative should be complementary to the follow-up of the GDC. During this upcoming review, it is necessary to consider the importance of multistakeholder efforts. The IGF provides a vital platform for diverse stakeholders in digital technologies to gather and engage in active discussions. This forum exemplifies the importance of multistakeholder efforts and we firmly believe that extending the IGF’s mandate is the right thing to do. Thank you. the digital divide. The role of the ITU is significant. We recognize that ITU is a substantial contribution to bridging the digital divide, especially in developed countries through their various initiatives. Japan will continue to support these efforts by the ITU. Please allow me to briefly introduce Japan’s domestic initiatives. Japan has significantly advanced its ability to strengthen individual journeys. In 2012, we saw the development of mobile phones, where the national coverage rate of optical web service for households reached 99. 9% of the population in 2023 and the coverage rate of mobile phones for households reached 99% of the population in 2003 and 2014. We believe that the most important coverage of both fiber and mobile are coming from the good mixture of competition policy and the government’s support for non-profitable regions. We have been promoting competition between the dominant incumbent and the entrance by the regulation as well as introducing the mechanism of so-called universal service fund and also financial subsidies to the players . In addition, Japan is promoting research and development of non-terrestrial or space network technologies, such as high altitude platform stations called HAPs, which provide connectivity in remote areas where communication infrastructure is not well established. This is part of our efforts to advance the next-generation communication infrastructure by beyond 5G or 6G. We are also assisting the capacity building programs of our digital users. the digitalization of the internet and the digitalization of the internet and the digitalization such as the use of the smartphones and the digital ID card called my number card or protection against cyber attacks and so on. So through such initiatives of the regulatory and financial frameworks as well as the digitalization of the internet, we are trying to bring in the digitalization of the internet and we would like to contribute to enhancing the global connectivity. Thank you.

Timea Suto: So as this was the first sort of thought starters ideas from the first half of our panel, so what we’re trying to take away here and what I hear a lot about is the need to try and find solutions that are sort of universal in spirit, but work at the local level. So I’m hearing calls for partnerships at the grassroots level to reach out and train and find the people and talk to them in their own, not just their own language, but the way that they live in their own situation. What I’m hearing calls for enabling policy environments to make sure that we work together, government, government-to-government partnerships, and we’re trying to make sure that we work together, governments, businesses, civil society, the technical community, to make sure that we incentivize investments, we incentivize trade and commerce to actually help facilitate affordability of connectivity and of devices. Incentivizing investment in skills and in training programs and, of course, then making sure that we incite the business cooperation at the global level and we come together in a forum to have these conversations and then cooperate with partners outside our local communities, outside our nations, to make sure this all works the same way that the Internet works at the global interconnected level. So we have a little bit of time to turn to the audience for some reactions on this, and then we’ll turn to the second panel. If you have any comments or questions, please wave your hand high so that my colleagues can see you. And when you speak, please introduce yourself.

Audience: Hello. My name is connecting ordinary citizens to the Internet. No, I’m just kidding. My name is Dr. Naza, Nicholas Kirama from Tanzania. And I wanted to make a comment on the effect of connecting schools to the internet. As when you get time, you go through our booth, you will see that we’ve been able to connect about 10 schools to the internet. And what we are getting from the schools that we have been able to connect in Tanzania is that the school students, there is a lot of improvement in terms of their grades that they are getting from their exams. And also, the teachers that we have engaged in our programs, they have been able to go online, access different courses, and through these courses, they have been able to improve their skills, their teaching skills, as well as upgrade, taking different free courses online. And before the connectivity, teachers were not able to access free courses online because the access was very limited. They didn’t have any broadband internet access in their schools. And with that, it was impossible for them to stay online for a long time to be able to study the courses online. So connecting schools, connecting the the communities, the ordinary citizen to broadband internet has enabled the communities that we save in Tanzania access digital opportunities online. So we have a lot of improvements in terms of grades, and also the teachers now can be able to read and improve their teaching skills online without ever looking over their shoulder that their data bundle is going to exhaust. So it is very important to continue to build alliances around the world to finance the connectivity for schools, connectivity for the rural communities, and also the underserved urban communities as well. So I think the idea of connecting people to digital opportunities online is very important because ultimately you will find yourself in a situation where when you connect people, the next frontier will be what sort of empowering skills that we need to deploy to these communities so that they can stay safe and they can feel comfortable to stay online. Thank you so much.

Timea Suto: Thank you for that comment. Indeed, I think a lot starts once we are able to get a school online or get a library online, because they are the hearts of the communities they function in, and then the ripple effect is clearly palpable. Do we have any other comments or questions? I don’t see anybody. There you are, sorry. Yes.

Audience: Hello, everyone. My name is Arjun Singh Bjoria. from Vizoria Foundation India. My question is that it’s based on the use of international AI in evaluation, the examination. Now, I just want to let you know. I want your opinion on how we can create a uniform framework for the evaluation of the students’ examination. Is it possible to create a uniform framework for the evaluation throughout the world? I just want your opinion on that. A uniform digital evaluation framework on the evaluation of students’ examinations.

Timea Suto: Thank you for that question. Would anybody from the panel care to respond to that question? Are we able to? The panel is asking if you could clarify your question.

Audience: Yes, certainly. In the education system, every degree having the final examination, right? Now, can we create a digital platform or a digital framework through which we can use the technology to evaluation of the students throughout the world? That is my question. Based on the technology, internet, and AI. Every country is having different evaluation process.

Timea Suto: Please, go ahead.

Shivnath Thukra: I can try and answer that question. Since you said you’re from India, there are many AI evaluation-based frameworks which have been created in the education space, both in the private sector and the civil society sector in the not-for-profit space. I can tell you one example. One of the partners that Meta in India works with is a foundation called Rocket Learning Systems. And all that they do is use AI evaluation on actual physical answer sheets by deploying thousands of teachers who… have based their evaluation by first physically evaluating them, and then they have created a machine learning tool to assess how they can give feedback digitally to improve upon the evaluation ecosystems. As a result, the feedback loop that the teachers have created is going back to the student at the end of it. And using AI analytics tool, they are able to point to them where they need to work harder. This is in the civil society space, not-for-profit space, and I’m happy to connect you with rocket learning. Similarly, in the private space, many of the edtech companies are doing the same thing. So one is to deliver education. The other is to assess education programs based on the tutorials that they run, how AI analytics can help them. I’m happy to share those examples async after the session as well. But yes, to answer your question, the possibility definitely exists. It is already being deployed. And what that would do is, which I was going to respond to when Tamir comes to me, is it solves two issues. One is of scale, given that in a country like India, for example, over a billion people, let’s say about 300 to 400 million students coming online every year, you will be able to solve the problem of scale of giving real-time feedback used on AI tools. And the second is the complexity of the language, which is a point I’m going to talk about in detail subsequently, is how using AI analytic tools, you can solve the language issue to give feedback to those, even if the teacher doesn’t know the language, AI tools can help understand better assessment of such frameworks.

Audience: Thank you, sir.

Timea Suto: Thank you for jumping in on that, Shivnath. I think we have time for one last question on this first segment of the panel, if there is anybody from the floor. My colleagues are getting a workout to make sure we get the microphone to you.

Audience: My name is Professor Nabi, I’m presenter of Creators Union of Arab in United Nations. So I was last year in Kyoto and the same problem was, we were talking about the same problem but actually I didn’t see any action plan. I’m sorry to say that I have some plan to do some rules, enforcement rules, and I’ll give you some examples. Why not we do like, if you need to promote as a faculty member in this area, so you have to teach some people in that area. We have to draw some rules in order to help some society in order to be educated enough to use the internet and so on. In Arabian Gulf for example, in all the countries, if you have a company, then you have to have some local people in your company in order to proceed. And this is their rights. And also their rights, the people who don’t have any connection in the internet, to enforce the people who has internet, to teach them in order to take your rights in your job, in your promotion, in your salary sometime, I’m sorry to say this. So we need an action plan in order, it’s called enforcement action plan in order to help those people in a different area. Thank you very much.

Timea Suto: Thank you for that. Would anybody from the panel like to address the important question, skills development? Can we have the microphone here? I can also speak.

Gbenga Sesan: Oh, it was switched off. Oh, it was switched off. I’m happy to speak to that and I think two things. One is the importance of skills. We can’t overemphasize that. The story I told earlier of Famos, the reason he was able to advance is because he picked the first skill in using spreadsheets and that led to others. But the second, which also ties into the story of skills, is the need to empower communities. You know, Sally spoke earlier about, and I think it’s really important. because learning is not just about the content, it’s also about the agency. It’s also about realizing the fact that this is not something given to me by others because they pity me. This is something that I am given access to. And I think this is really important. This is why one of the things, you know, when Thelma talked about the universal services funds earlier, I was pretty excited because we did a whole report on, and I will actually be speaking about that tomorrow at one of the lightning talks, about 26 African countries and what they have done with USFs. And you’re right. Many times, the solution we need to connect the last mile is already there. You’ve collected the money from the taxes, but we need action. And I think that’s the phrase you just used. We need people to be literally forced to act. So I think it’s important to have a sense of agency in learning, and it’s absolutely important to make sure that the community buys into it because we have done projects that were literally protected by the community. In one of those times, I was leading a project called Lagos Digital Village, and there was a situation where people were fighting and it became very violent. The security guards in the area who had children who were learning from the center came to my office, locked the door, locked the gate, and when everything happened and everything settled down, I asked them what was going on. They said, well, we were protecting you because you’re the one training our children, and we are protecting this center because if they destroy the computers in this center, our children and their children and the next generations will be as poor as we are. So I think when communities get a sense of agency and ownership, it not only helps to learn, it also helps to protect and to make this sustainable.

Tami Bhaumik: I can also add to it. Go ahead, please. So I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m Tami Bhaumik. I’m from Roblox, and I’ll get into a little bit more. I’ll explain what Roblox is, but I can’t agree with you more. I lead an area called civility at Roblox, and our sole focus is to bridge the education gap between children, parents, and teachers. And if we’re going to create a global community that will thrive in this next generation of the internet, we must educate everyone. And so our focus really is working with partners from around the world to make sure that we’re getting evidence-based data to be able to inform and educate parents. teachers and, you know, children so that they can grow up in a much safer place. But I can get into that during our session.

Timea Suto: Yes. Thank you so much, Tami. And I think that’s a great segue in going into the second half of the panel. We’ve heard a lot as we were talking here together with the audience, but also as I was listening to the first part of the panel on what happens once people are online. Whether it’s for education, accessing important services like healthcare, or their own maximum potential on the job market, or actually developing in entrepreneurship or making businesses grow. So those are all the positives, the great stories, what we want to happen. But of course, there’s also sometimes challenges with coming online. And so that’s what we try to address in the second part of the panel. So once people are online, what is it that we still need to do to make sure that connectivity is meaningful, that that actually works? So to start us off and sort of make the connection between the first half of the panel and the second, I’m going to turn to Alaa Abdullah from the Digital Cooperation Organization. And we’d love to hear from you, from the DCO perspective a little bit, how do you work to address digital divides, and what are the challenges that you see that come with rapid connectivity?

Alaa Abdullah: Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. I’m very honored, first of all, to be in this session, and even to be the first speaker to connect both aspects. And I would like to highlight some of the important points that my colleagues here in the panel have mentioned, which is looking at that there is almost more than a third of the people are still not connected. And then we talked about some skills that they need to be from a digital literacy perspective, and how it’s very important for everyone to have that. digital economy was and will be moving in the digital world as in the real world where we have to engage and share knowledge data and connecting data with personal data. So we had in two different countries to specifically this work about electronic information technology, to attend conversations about critical metals of course, from the start to the conversation in terms of the digital divide and the digital divide and the digital divide and the digital divide and the digital divide. So it is part of our objective and goal is to also bridge the digital divide and make sure that everyone is part of this ecosystem and the acceleration of digitalization that is going on. And for us to do that, let me go back. We are a four years old organization, so we are actually a four-year-old organization, and we have been doing this for a long time. We have been doing this for a long time, and it is very important for us to understand. Understand what are the different challenges that are hindering the progress and the participation to be part of this digital economy growth or even digitalization growth. And this is why we have done a lot of global roundtables. We have been doing it internally with leaders, nations, when in finals to know what is going on and decision-making regarding those challenges. And the insights were similar to what we are seeing, which is there is a lot of countries are struggling with, do they have the right infrastructure for them to be connected. Do the nations have the right skills when they are already connected? Are the policies and regulations from the country coming together to address these issues? And also, they are already facing a lot of challenges. And a lot more is there is cooperation between different countries and organization. Are the businesses involved in that process to combat these accidents. I was involved in learning but they So, I think that we need to start measuring things. I mean, we need to start measuring things, because, again, if we want to really make sure that everyone has a fair opportunity, we need to start measuring things. Because, again, just saying that there is a gap, there is a divide, we already have numbers that people, 2. 6 million people are not able to vote, 2. 6 million people are not connected, but, okay, how can we start measuring how countries can start progressing? And this is why we put it among ourselves in the DCO. We have that goal, okay, let’s first of all create a framework to look at the digital economy. Have that, and I think one of the audience who have asked, do we have a unified framework, and, yes, we do, but we need to build a unified framework, definition on how to measure the digital economy, what is needed for each country for them to progress, to grow, to have all the nation connected and have that fair opportunity. And we launched recently during the UNGA in New York, the digital economy navigator, which is a tool that we put the framework on how to measure the digital economy. We assessed 50 countries for them to understand where do they currently stand from a digital economy perspective. We put different level of categorization from a maturity perspective, identified that we have three dimensions, we need the right, we need to tackle it from a business perspective, from a society perspective, and then having a unified framework that we put the framework on how to measure the digital economy from a society perspective, and then having that dimension of what would enable identifying 11 pillars, different pillars from infrastructure, from digital transformation, having the right regulations, having the right digital skills, education, health, and different sectors. And then we assessed those 50 countries and gave where do they stand, what is the gap, how they can move forward. We’ve done that huge analysis through different lenses, through the 11 pillars that we have. We looked at different regions, because again, you need to create synergies. Not every country should work alone. We can work together, and you find all of these findings in the report that we have launched, and I hope that everyone had the chance to look at it, which is the Digital Economy Navigator report. With that set of recommendation, where we can start creating synergies targeted to government, targeted to private sector, where we all have to work together. Because again, we believe in the approach of cooperation. We are the Digital Cooperation Organization. Cooperation is our middle name, and this is how we try to work. Because we believe that we are in a world, we do not want to leave anyone behind. How can we guarantee we don’t leave anyone behind? We have to work together. So again, the Digital Economy Navigator, I think we believe that this navigator will help in starting to measure the maturity. To have that, if we identify what is the gap, let’s build actionable plan, which is also one of the audience was mentioning, and then let’s measure are we progressing or not towards those different pillars from, as we said, connectivity, skills, infrastructure. And for us, we took all of those findings. Those findings were not just a one-year work. We have been working for three years to gather the data and to really have that understanding to bridge the digital divide. And we created what we call the digital space accelerators. Those accelerators are focused on the challenges and the gaps that we are finding. Again, going back to finding the synergy between different stakeholders and different countries. The digital space accelerator, we identify each year specific topics that are very important that will help making sure that the future is inclusive and sustainable and that everyone has that fair opportunity to grow. And we try to have that multi-stakeholder approach where we create different topics with different groups. We bring governments on the table. We bring private sector, academia, experts, and we try to solve that challenge. We created a group for, which I have mentioned, women, women empowerment, how they can be empowered in the ICT and through the ICT. We created a group for misinformation online and how it’s important to solve that issue. Also AI, ethical use of AI, and differently, and we almost covered along 11 topics last year and this year. It’s all built on one mechanism, which is bringing all the right stakeholders, not only government, but government, private sector, think tanks, experts, and not only focusing on one country, rather than going, we go through different global roundtables to really capture the different aspects, different insights from and angles that each expert and each region can bring to. And we try to build those solutions. And again, there is a report in our website that reflects that journey. of the digital space accelerators and the different topics that we have, and it produced, this mechanism produced almost 11 publications that are giving specific, some of them are toolkits, some of them are for unified frameworks, policy recommendation, and we hope by this mechanism we really would help in bridging the digital divide. In addition, last but not least, that I want also to highlight of some of the cases that we are working on, which my colleagues mentioned the skills, and even enabling digital transformation for different businesses. We have what we call We Elevate, it’s a program that we have where we enable women-led businesses and help them to have the right skills to transform digitally from regular businesses to businesses online. This is giving them an opportunity not only to have a digitalization for the sake of digitalization, but even expand their businesses. Being online means having bigger outreach, being cross-border, and this really has been already launched in different countries of our member state, and we are targeting to digitalize 300 women businesses, giving them even the right skills and the courses that will enable them to be online. Just as a final point, I really iterate that we believe that cooperation is the solution. No one nation can work alone and solve all of the issue. It has to be a collaborative approach where countries work together, private sector, international organization, NGOs, all of us try to work together hand-in-hand to solve those challenges and bridge the digital divide.

Timea Suto: Thank you so much for that comprehensive presentation of all your work. What strikes me is the fact that you’re talking about collaboration between nations, which is very important, especially as we see how difficult it is sometimes for nations to agree on the way forward, so producing incentives, toolkits, opportunities for them to meet and collaborate and identify perhaps common challenges that require their common solutions is very important. But you’ve also mentioned sort of building blocks of the digital economy itself, starting from connectivity but working all the way up our way to the most recent technologies. So how do we move from bridging the divides for connectivity so that we can make sure that we are not widening the divides as we move rapidly along with the development of technology? So this brings me to José Renato because you work a lot on emerging technologies and how do you see connectivity as a prerequisite to where we need to arrive with AI and digital technologies and what do we need to enable access to everybody to those technologies as well?

José Renato Laranjeira de Pereira: Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here. Okay, it was a bit too loud maybe. Okay, thank you very much for having me. And yes, I have been looking a little bit, have been looking to this topic and I think that connectivity is, we have talked a lot about access, have talked about how we should universalize connectivity, access to digital tools as a whole and I think that we have been working on this for a while and we haven’t yet achieved it. We have not achieved this universalization yet but I think that we should also start thinking about how can we include, how can we have the allies of this community so they can also help shape the digital agenda, shape the digital futures. And we have, despite the many benefits that we can see that digitalization brings and I think that most of my colleagues here mentioned a lot of them, having access to job opportunities, having access to the possibility of learning, of reaching wider audiences. I think it also relates to like how can we include these people so that they can also think about how is the future of technology that they want in order to serve their own purposes and which includes also the purposes that we need in order to like solve climate issues, environmental issues as a whole. So for this I think that it’s very important that we look for instance to how local communities are using these technologies and are being impacted by them and I think that the Brazilian Amazon, especially among indigenous peoples, bring very important clues on what, where are we going and what are the challenges that we have and the opportunities out there. And most recently, especially in the last two years, we have been having what I see as a transformation out there. For years we have more indigenous communities being connected either through community networks or more traditional ways of having access to internet. But nowadays, especially when we look into the Amazon, where traditionally the Brazilian state and telecommunication companies have been failing to provide connectivity to these people, one new factor is out there which is low-earth orbit satellites, especially when you think about Starlink. And to some degree these technologies are allowing many of these peoples to communicate between themselves, to have access to social benefit, but at the same time they bring a whole new challenge which is they are also facilitating access to people who end up being enemies of these communities. And I’m talking here about invaders of indigenous territories, of illegal gold miners… land grabbers and so on. So this brings us to a paradox here. On the one hand these technologies are facilitating the capacity of indigenous to resist to these people but at the same time they’re contributing to the cycle of violence to be perpetuated and this is even more problematic when we think that, for instance, if you think about the Yanomami people in Brazil, their territory has been witnessing the invasion of many of these gold miners sometimes even to fuel the digital economy. They have been extracting gold and selling to many big corporations, big tech corporations that are across the world. So how can we be their allies in resisting against these challenges, especially when we consider that, and this is the case of many of the Yanomami communities, that they had to decide and sometimes even go against their own habits, their own ontologies to connect in order to resist these problematic features of both these invaders but also of how the industry develops itself as a whole. So something has to be changed and I think that it’s very important that these people end up participating in the design of these digital futures, both on a degree of developing these technologies but also of thinking about policymaking. And I think that forming issues should be pushed forward and we’re here in a form of multi-stakeholder forum and I think that we should think about possibilities for us to be allies of these groups. And I think that, first of all, and I think that has already been mentioned by many of my participants, digital literacy is fundamental and not just to use correctly these technologies but also to help them develop and critically assess what’s going on among them and also with regard to their infrastructure, so the infrastructures that relate, that are on the basis, on the fundamentals of these technologies. So the first, digital literacy. The second is their ability to help them address the risks of monopolies and I think that state action here is fundamental, thinking about how can we create alternatives, especially considering that Starlink is controlled by Elon Musk, who has been frequently challenging Brazilian authorities and failing to comply with many institutional demands that are made to him. Third would be to think about governance measures that allow for popular digital sovereignty. There are many movements happening in this regard. One of them is the homeless workers movement, which talks a lot about popular digital sovereignty, which is not only digital sovereignty on a state level but also to communities to control their data, to control their platforms. And finally, enabling, help build bridges so they can also participate in policymaking efforts. In Brazil, for instance, in the debates on AI regulation, we have already had three years of debate and only one indigenous representative, who was Chimeia Vaite, managed to participate. My organization is very happy to have been an ally in this stance, but this has to change. This has to change. And I think that as Davico Penao e Yanomami, who is a very important indigenous leader in Brazil, says, all of these mechanic machines should also be appropriated by these peoples, because it is their blood and their metals, the resources in their land, that are feeding them. So they should also find ways, should help them find ways to appropriate them, in order to shape these digital futures that I’m talking about. Some initiatives are already underway. The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee is working a lot to connect these communities, along with many other organizations, including the Instituto Socioambiental. ISOC also participates in many community networks being built there, and beyond. But I think we should give a step further, and I think that COP30, which is going to take place in the Brazilian Amazon in 2025, is a very important forum for us to bring the discussion, how to find ways to bridge, to create bridges, so that these communities can participate in the shaping of these digital futures. Thank you very much.

Timea Suto: Thank you so much for that input, and for highlighting the need of not only connecting people to the… and the technologies but also connecting them to the conversations that we have about these technologies and make sure that we shape those together with those who we are trying to target. We have also mentioned emerging technologies and AI and we’ve kept hearing AI creep in in these sessions and I think it creeps in into every session that we have at the IGF recently. So I want to turn to Shivnath and ask a little bit about what you feel are the persisting challenges to achieve inclusivity not only in connectivity but at the end of the spectrum that we have, maybe not at the end of the spectrum generally, but where we are now with the development of technology. How do we connect people inclusively to the latest developments when we already see that we are facing challenges at the beginning of the spectrum also?

Shivnath Thukra: Thanks to you and thanks for inviting me, Meta from India on this panel. I will, in the spirit of being a very very diehard optimist, I’ll try to paint a more realistic, pragmatic and positive picture of what I see as the future and hopefully will address some of the concerns my friend Jose has but more importantly I want to pick a one-one line each from each of the speakers to try and create a framework of why we must use technology for the sake of technology. It is very important to sometimes sit back and think why have we failed over 2.3 billion people of this world so far. I’m sure Sally will agree that even if we give them network, even if we give them connectivity, it may still not solve for the need of the Internet because the Internet as we know in our languages may not be the Internet that we will be able to provide for them in their language or in the complexity of the environment they live in which is affordability, access to to device, et cetera. So I think if you step back, and Mr. Cezanne said, no one should be left behind. Internet is that critical if you provide it to people. Thelma said, the over-pivoting on private sector investment has not really led to the result that you want to see on the ground. Our friend from Japan said, could it be the futuristic technology like AI which helps us solve it? Ms. Abdullal said, cooperation between nations. Fully agree, and I’ll tell you why one by one. At Meta, we definitely feel the answer to this future is open source technologies, which Meta professes. And I will tell you two examples why so. Let’s take the issue of language. You said no one should be left behind. Today, it is possible using a program like NLLB 200, which Meta runs. It’s a program called No Language Left Behind, where almost 200 languages can be translated directly with each other. Normally, the framework of translation is you take a language, get it down to English, from English to the other language. Today, NLLB makes possible 200 languages to be translated directly. There’s an offering in the open source world called Universal Translator, where languages, which are known as low resource models, where you do not have a written script of a language. Those languages can be trained using AI models so that these languages become inclusive as a part of the general internet ecosystem. What is it that solving for is inclusivity. It is solving for those very people who are outside the world of the internet to be brought into the world of internet. So while we solve for physical connectivity, physical infrastructure, you must solve for this. Let’s look at some more examples of where open source technologies, like our large language models, Lama, has been able to help. And I will give you some Indian examples. I was telling my friend from India about examples in education. And we’ll talk about agriculture in our part of the world agriculture is a serious issue, right? But if you deploy open source technology, you can actually give the information relevant to the farmer on the device using llama There is a low-cost model of llama which you can deploy on the device It doesn’t need to be on some fancy computer with some fancy server supporting it. You can deploy it There is a startup in India called Kisan AI. Dr. Abdullah will talk about the startup ecosystem These are the kind of examples which can solve for it whereby they get relevant crop information Climate information in the era of climate disruption using their phone. They can have large language models So you said AI is the fashionable world AI is being deployed on the device not through some very sophisticated Ecosystem and they get real-time information. So that’s agriculture for you Student-led inclusivity Josie you talked about how do we make sure representation happens? One of the reasons representation doesn’t happen is because they feel overwhelmed by the lack of connectivity to the language of English For example in India, we are running a program with the Institute called Wadhwani Institute. It’s a very famous AI Institute where how to teach children English at local state level which Has largely education system delivered in local language. How can they learn? English skills similarly for the government one of the partnerships that Meta has deployed using AI tools is how to make sure somebody in a remote area finds the right skill set Training available on the government website governments actually have done a fabulous job of running programs But the missing link is how do people access it? So if let’s say in your region you’re running skilling programs But somebody doesn’t know how to go find that right skilling program this pilot that we are running allows them to connect by just Verbal assistance saying I am so and so from this region. I am in this language. I would like to learn about welding and the AI assistant can help them find the right course in the nearby geographical region. The long and short of this story is, with open source technologies, what are you achieving? Inclusivity, you’re achieving a lot of real-time feedback, making these models better, and the best part, which addresses, and I think, Josie, you mentioned about sovereign AI, we do not think it is in contradiction. When you adopt open source technologies, you can have local deployment. You don’t have to worry about your data floating elsewhere. You can use a large language model locally and create those solutions. Why is this possible? I think you talked about policy framework, super critical. Why do we need supportive policy frameworks? In India, for example, India’s now decently famous for what is known as digital public infrastructure. It was a government initiative. Government created the digital rails based on the identity layer to deliver solutions like payment. Today in India, almost on a daily basis, we have billions of transactions purely cashless using your phones. How is that possible? Because you created what is called digital infrastructure, which the government did, private sector built on it, and I think the DPI approach, the digital public infrastructure approach that the government took to AI, will be the next frontier, and I’ll tell you how. Government will build open compute resources, support open source technologies, open data sets, and support language translation models. If you combine all these four from a DPI perspective, many low-income countries, middle-income countries could leverage what they have not been able to do for 20 years within a few years. They don’t have to go through the whole evolution cycle. They can crunch that. I was at the India IGF last week. Mr. Changat, I spoke there, and he was talking about how the world is so diverse. For these 2.6 billion people, there is no uniform solution. AI could be that bridge. AI could be that glue which will bring all these people in. You start connecting the dots, create low-cost, localized solutions in their language to deliver not just citizen services from the government, but support an ecosystem, like a startup ecosystem like we have done for agriculture, for education, for payments, financial sector. I’m sure in our part of the world, small-ticket lending is an issue. Farmers want small-ticket loans. How do you use AI-based analytics to do that? I think the world is full of possibilities, according to me, and I think the next frontier of the 2.6 billion people will be solved for much faster if we are able to adopt and embrace open-source technologies, which is in sync with what the world needs. Thank you.

Timea Suto: Thank you so much for that, as you said, very optimistic perspective, but I think also a very tangible and real one on what technology can help us achieve. You said technology for the purpose of technology, but I don’t think you’re right. It’s not technology for the purpose of technology. It’s technology for the purpose of developing the potential that individual societies and businesses have. It’s not just to have the next one and the newest one, it’s to actually use it in a way that is helpful for the communities that are so diverse, as you said, and build the bridges to help them bring them along on where they feel they ought to be in their potential. I want to continue with that line, and Tommy, when you spoke, responding to the question you mentioned, how we need opportunities to empower people to have the relevant skills and training to access AI, and through that skills and training, we can actually help them address some of the safety issues that they might face when coming online, or the big unknown of connecting to the internet and the newest technologies. So perhaps you can expand a little bit on that now, and you have more time here to expand a bit what you and what Roblox does.

Tami Bhaumik: Thank you so much. What an honor to be here with all of you and hear your interesting perspectives. So what I’d like to do is focus, maybe take a little bit of time to share a little bit about what Roblox is. We are not quite as big as Meta. So I’d like to take some time to explain what Roblox is. So Roblox is a technology platform. It’s a place where people can come to learn, to work, to create, to communicate with one another. And a lot of people come to actually design and create games and experiences, publish it out on our platform to millions. We now have over 6 million active developers developing experiences. We have tens of millions of games and experiences on Roblox. Every type of game you can imagine. And it is a place where young people and children are thriving. It’s where they’re learning, it’s where they’re connecting with one another. And if you take a future vision of where this next generation will go, it is they will be in immersive worlds such as Roblox, learning with one another and doing things. It is, we have now 90 million daily active users on our platform. So we are large and we are global. And so from a connectivity standpoint, it’s so important to enable people from all generations to be able to connect with one another and learn from one another. The Roblox platform is someplace where they can do it. Because there are so many young people on our platform, we prioritize safety. So the area that I lead is called civility. And it is focused on, as I mentioned before, bridging the education gap between the generations, which is so important. It’s giving parents the tools and the knowledge to be able to help their children to thrive. online. So I have two daughters, and I actually laugh because I am in the technology industry, and when people talk about, you know, if you see something that bothers you, go to a parent or a trusted adult. I’m not this expert, right? So I’m not a doctor or an academic. How do I know? Parents have no idea how to guide their children in this new internet world. It is up to us collectively to make sure that we have the power to be able to educate parents so they can help their children to thrive, and that is through industry. Industry needs to be responsible. Technology companies need to be responsible to make sure that they have the education materials available and getting it out there. It is the responsibility of governments to make sure that they’re prioritizing digital literacy, not just as an afterthought, but truly and meaningfully integrating it into their education systems from the very beginning. By the time a child gets to 15 or 16 years old, it’s too late. We need to start thinking about educating them the moment they get a digital device into their hands, making sure that it’s age-appropriate and making sure that the information going to the child is evidence-based and it’s vetted. And so one of the things that we do at Roblox is we work with governments, we work with teacher organizations to make sure that we’re developing curriculum. As an example, in South Korea we’re developing a curriculum, a digital, a civility digital literacy curriculum for teachers and a separate one for parents. So many parents come and say to me that they are so scared of the world that their children the digital world their children are going into. But fear is driven by the unknown. And if we can educate them, the more that we educate parents, the less fearful they are. And so, at Roblox, our civility initiative is based on three different pillars. The first is safety. You gotta know how to use the safety tools. You need to know that they’re there, and that you need to know how to use them. If a bad actor comes on or you see bad content, you need to know where to report it. You need to know how to process it. That is something very important. The second is mental health and well-being. Loneliness is a global epidemic. Anxiety and depression, global epidemic. We need to wake up, we need to take this seriously, and we need to make sure that anywhere where there are young people, children, that we need to make sure that we’re giving them the lifelines necessary in order to help them thrive. That is helplines, that is, and I know that United Nations, in fact, we’re partners with United Nations in developing helplines for developing nations. That is, we need to make sure that those lifelines are available and easily accessible. I’ll give you an example. On Roblox, one of the things that we do in this world, we have a partner, Alo Yoga. They’re an exercise brand. They developed a mindfulness experience. It’s beautiful, beautiful music. It’s about meditation and the importance of meditation. Within the first five days, we had eight million people come on and learn how to meditate. The feedback that we got from that was amazing. we got from children was unbelievable. There was one child who said, my parents are getting a divorce. I’m so anxious and I’m so upset. But when I come into this experience, this Alo Yoga experience, and I put on my headphones, I can shut all that out and I can find peace. So technology is an area where we can bring that to young people. We have a responsibility to opening up these worlds that are positive and good so that they can learn from them. And then the final pillar that we focus on in civility is digital literacy. And so, again, knowing how to respond to a scam, knowing how to identify a scam, knowing when to, again, have a healthy relationship with technology, to know yourself. Every single one of us sitting here is different, and our relationship with technology should be different. Maybe the amount of time that I spend online maybe is not as much as somebody like you. Maybe you can actually handle it, handle a little bit more. So not everybody is the same. So again, technology firms have the responsibility to continue to innovate. Congress is continuously innovating and making sure that we’re developing safety tools, mental health support tools to allow people to adjust based upon their situation. So I think that one of the things that we all have to recognize as we start focusing on bridging the gap, the digital divide, is also thinking about the education because we need to get that flywheel started now. We’re already behind. And so the fear that I have is that we won’t collectively as a world wake up to the necessity of prioritizing digital literacy, mental health, and safety before it’s too late. So I’m really glad we’re having this discussion now.

Timea Suto: Thank you so much for that. And I think you’re bringing it full circle from what we’ve been discussing in the past hour and a half together. And you’re also bringing in somehow to me the spirit of the IGF. Because as I listen to you talk, it strikes me that it’s not when you say Roblox does this or one company does that, it’s not about you going away and thinking about it by yourself. Because for you to be able to develop a curriculum, you have to work with the teachers. For you to be able to find the right partner to develop a mental health application, you have to talk to mental health specialists. You have to talk to the children themselves. You have to talk to the parents. We all have to have this thing that we come together and do at the IGF, where it’s the true meeting of the minds and the meeting of the perspectives from very different backgrounds for us to then realize what are the challenges that we have and how can we bring these unusual partnerships together to actually find a response, whether we are talking about a tool for agriculture or a tool for children to navigate their online lives. It’s very different perspectives, but it’s technology in all its different forms. And technology is clearly a challenge, but it can also be the solution if we know how to use it wisely. So on that, I’d love to turn over to the audience and see if they have any reactions to what we’ve heard from our last four speakers. Yes, please, we can hear you.

Audience: Okay. Très bien. Je suis honorable Dr. Alfa Abdullahi. Hello. I’m Dr. Abdullahi. Hello. I’m Dr. Abdullah. Hello. French channel is channel two. Thank you very much. So I’m Dr. Abdullah Yaloh. I work in the Parliament of Transition in Guinea and I’m very happy to participate in this forum. This is my first time. First, I would like to give my salutations of the Parliament of Guinea to all of you. And I would like also to salute the King of Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince. And also I would like to salute all your panel and all the participants that are here today with us. I was very interested in all the comments, especially in what the Indian panelist was saying and also the rest of the speakers. It is very important to agree in one fact. It is true technology is very important, but I completely agree that what the colleague from India said, that the use of the technology is also very important. It is as important as technology. So it is very important today to the literacy. It’s very important today. And the reason for that is because today in Guinea, we are writing a new constitution. And the use of technology has helped us to disseminate the content of the new constitution to the population, but also to foreign countries. And this has been enabled with technology and with the platform that we created, with the interactive platform that was created. And today, I can say that all Guineans know the content of our constitution, thanks to technology. And the good use of technology allows also that population adhere and agree wherever they are. And so the population agrees with the constitution. So recently, in all our country and all our members of parliaments have traveled everywhere in the country, and they knew them. And that was thanks to all the videos that was on the platform that I was talking now. All the works of the parliament were broadcasted on this platform. So everybody in Guinea and outside Guinea could follow the works of the MPs. So I agree with you. So technology. is important, but the use of technology is even more important. And literacy in the use of technology will allow to multiply this positive side of technology. And also it will decrease its negative effects. And especially when we talk about young people, teenagers and children, we are very happy to participate to this forum. And I would like to request to all the panelists to give some examples regarding the good use of technology, above all with Internet, in your own countries. So we can share your experiences. So we could share all your good practices. Thank you very much.

Timea Suto: So what we’ve heard here is the importance of civic participation, which I think was something that the panel didn’t mention, but it clearly is one more element of where technology can be of help. And we were asked as panelists to give some examples that the rest of the world could learn from, some good examples of the use of technology in your regions, in your countries or in your organizations. So if anybody would like to take up that request from our speaker from the Parliament of Kenya.

Shivnath Thukra: Yeah, firstly, I want to thank my friend from Kenya for acknowledging some of the things that I talked about. I can give you many examples of successful use of technology, but I’m sure everybody’s much more competent than I am to talk about the successes. So I’ll give you a bit of a fun example if you, in the light of governance, for example. If you’re writing the new constitution, how about using AI tools to make it interactive? Ask them how they would be able to apply the principles of constitution in their real life, right? Just as an example, when you do law writing, when you write a new legislation, in India now, there is a trend that when they publish the law, they use illustrations. How will the law actually apply? I think it’s a commendable exercise for people to have that connect when you write a law. Otherwise, law is written by lawyers and then we only get to use it when it is challenged in the court. But if you suddenly start writing laws with illustrations of your day-to-day example of how that law would be applicable to you, that is one very interesting use of technology that one can do. But in terms of what you talked about, sir, in governance and how the parliamentarians, when they went to different parts of the country and people could connect to them, there are many such examples. One closer to my heart, which I really feel strongly about, obviously related to a meta platform, it’s on Instagram, is how you can take up your own causes of your country, which you want to highlight and have the creator ecosystem kind of showcase it. Tourism is a great example in India, where the creators actually run a competition. India probably would be the only country which has a recognized national creator awards. So creators are given issues and ideas and then they run a contest and creators showcase different locations in the country. Well, the marketing department of government of tourism could spend a lot of money, but if you have these creators with millions of followers showcasing different locations in the country, that goes a very, very long way. So there are many such examples, but more in the space of artificial intelligence, I would say there are examples where in the medical field you are able to create solutions on diagnostic health. So for example, we are trying to work with a firm where the initial assessment of somebody in a remote area doesn’t need immediate medical interaction. They can talk to a tool and asking them their symptoms, the initial assessment, so primary health care can be solved at a very fundamental level. So there are many such examples we can talk about. I mean India with a population of 1.4 billion, there are many of millions such examples, but I’ll pause there, but just to say, I mean what Tami said I think is so critical that if technology companies do not take up these challenges, who else will? Because we recognize that our products have immense upside, but certain challenges which we have to all work together, collaborate together, so to solve for safety, literacy, awareness in itself. For example, in Instagram, there are 50 tools for parents to kind of help children, but how do we make sure everybody gets to know it? And every time we talk to a policymaker and we tell them about it, they’re super happy that we are doing something. So I think it’s about taking responsibility and driving it.

Timea Suto: Thank you.

Tami Bhaumik: And I just like to add on to this and in terms of a recommendation. So a year and a half ago, we hosted a workshop with the digital wellness lab at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical, and we worked on a hypothesis. In five to ten years from now, the online world can be safer and more civil than in real life. If we were to make that a reality, what would need to happen in technology, innovation, policy, and education? We invited over a hundred thought leaders from around the world, from safety NGOs, to academics, researchers, child psychiatrists, and industry, and we brought in teens. And we learned a lot. To cut to the chase. The one thing that came out so strongly was to include teens meaningfully through everything that we do. And I can honestly say I work for a technology company, and while we certainly have focus groups, things like that, we don’t actually, from beginning to end, include youth meaningfully. This year, from that workshop, we changed things. We’ve announced a teen council that we are integrating into our work. One of the funny things about when we were in this workshop, all of these smart people were talking about things that should be done on the internet. What should be done to make platforms safer? And this young 17-year-old woman started shaking her head. And she looked at us, and I looked at her and said, what’s going on? She said, that’s not how we use it. That’s not how we use the internet. We got it wrong, all of these smart people. So as you’re writing and drafting this new constitution, please remember children, please remember teens, and incorporate them meaningfully through the development of that framework.

Timea Suto: Thank you for that. Jose, then Gbenga, and then Alaa.

José Renato Laranjeira de Pereira: Thank you. Merci beaucoup pour cette question. Thank you for this question. It is easier for me to speak in French. Thank you. Thank you very much for the question. I will give two examples and then reflect a little bit about this issue as a whole. I think that the example that I’m going to give is once again of the homeless workers movement in Brazil, because I think that they have a very good initiative. Maybe one of the members here is in the audience, Ale Barbosa, which is Contrate quem luta, work hire who fights. I think that’s a good translation for it. And the idea was to create a platform linked to WhatsApp through which people could hire for services in their houses, services in their office, or even for delivery services. Hire people who were homeless and were working together and were part of the initiatives of this movement, which is very big throughout Brazil. So I think this is a great initiative. And one thing that they always discussed was we need to appropriate these technologies in a way that they also serves our benefits when we do not have the means to reach another platform, other platforms, other delivery platforms, for instance, or services as a whole. So this was a very important initiative. And another one was a platform that was built with by incorporation between a an NGO in Brazil which works on research in the Amazon. I don’t want to be unfair here, but it’s better that I don’t say the name because I’m not 100% sure who I can’t remember exactly the name of the organization. But they did this platform through which indigenous peoples themselves would include data on deforestation for them to have like a better assessment on the ground and that does not rely on satellite imagery to map deforestation sites in Brazil. So like this was a very important initiative which I think it represents not only co-creation but also self-governed data. And I would say as a whole, especially when we think about providing public services through technology, is that we always remember to keep the analog. Many people do not know how to use technology, many people don’t have access to it. We talked a lot about connectivity, that’s crucial. And also when they have access to it, we may face challenges regarding, for instance, language, which has already been talked about in this panel, or even the possibility of the capacity of explaining oneself, of understanding what one’s rights are. That’s why the human aspect is fundamental to be maintained throughout this process.

Timea Suto: Thank you for that. Gbenga?

Gbenga Sesan: Yes, thanks. I mean that’s a direct question, it’s as direct as it gets. And half of my work is in digital rights, human rights and digital age. And over the last few years, one of the most important uses that I’ve seen young people put technology to, you know, used to, is in political participation, in civic participation. I spend my time worrying about how the digital civic space is closing and I see young people do creative things, conversations that you can’t have on TV stations because of concerns, conversations you can’t have on the radio, you can have those conversations in safe digital spaces. And I think that the example of writing a constitution and getting feedback from young people is a perfect example of political participation. It’s not just about elections, it’s not just about choosing leaders, it’s about envisioning the future together, participating in it and making sure that young people are not, you know, involved in tokenistic examples, but they can actually participate in this. And we’ve seen that, you know, happen with a very good example that I was involved with is in 2011, the electoral agency at the time in Nigeria had said, you have to wait for the voting to finish and then for four days before you see the results. I’m not that patient. My parents may be that patient, but I want to see the results immediately. And so a group of us gathered, designed a mobile app. We used the acronym of what the Electoral Commission had used, it was Registered Voter Database. So we called it ReVoter. We created an app such that while we were on the queue and people were voting and the results were announced in each location, we were able to use that platform to aggregate and to see what the result was. And when the results were eventually announced, to say, OK, you know what? We think this is correct because the margin of error is not large. And that is where technology is useful in participation.

Timea Suto: Thank you so much. Ala?

Alaa Abdullah: I think the example that I want to give, it highlights what you have been mentioning. The question was, how can digital or technology help? And let us as the panelists share our learning and example, and I think as DCO, one of the things that we thought is the exact same thing. How can we enable governments and countries to share their successes and their digital solutions that they are using in their digital transformation? This is why we created a platform called Impact, where all our member states can list their digital solutions that they are using for their digital government for other countries to learn from, to share their experience. And why reinvent the wheel? If a solution is deployed, for example, a digital ID solution is deployed in one country that is successful, that has been working very well. Another country in need of such a similar solution, why do we have to redo? I think it’s very important for us to have a platform where we can share the experience of another country and just take it and deploy it. And this is why we created the impact. And I think this wouldn’t be possible without the technology and without having those platforms that you can share the experience. Another life example is that before conferences, if we do not have access to the internet, we have to do it online. It means that all conversation, all questions is being streamed to a million of people without being physically here. So this is a life example of how technology is enabling us to share our knowledge, to even hear different voices at the same time.

Timea Suto: That’s a great example. Sally, you had your hand up first. And then we go to you. Thank you.

Sally Wentworth: Thank you very much. I think this builds on the last two comments, and I’m really impressed by the way that you spoke about using technology to improve transparency and engagement in your policy development. And building on that, I think there are important lessons and opportunities through that, which is the technology can allow coalitions to develop. And I think that’s a really important example, and I think it’s a great example of the global encryption coalition, for example, which has over 400 members around the world who spot threats to encryption or identify opportunities to promote better online security, and, as you said, they compare and learn from each other. So where one stakeholder may have encountered a particular challenge and successfully advocated and worked in their own way to address that challenge, there are other challenges that are shared online through this coalition. This is almost all done virtually, to support activities in other communities. And we see that kind of civil society coalition building happening online in really powerful ways, and I think my advice to our colleague is to be open to that kind of advocacy that happens from civil of the transparency that you’re providing in support of your constitution is not just about consultation but about building together and leveraging your civil society that is able to organize online to be part of that conversation. And if we circle back to some of the comments earlier about connectivity, I think what you’re speaking about in terms of involving parents is every bit as important as when we think about connectivity solutions. Being able to engage those communities, giving them agency in the conversation about the solutions that will work for them in the languages they speak, consistent with the culture that they are coming from, is what will make the connectivity powerful for them. This is not a drop connectivity in and leave. This is about enabling those communities to be part of that solution. And I think if that’s the approach we take, we will go much farther than we’ve been able to go so far. And those communities will be then part of building the digital economy of the future and not being on the receiving end of it. Thank you.

Timea Suto: Thelma, you wanted to say a few words as well.

Thelma Quaye: Thank you. And I think I’d also like to commend our colleague from Guinea. At Smart Africa, what we do is to leverage what countries are doing well to, you know, show the other countries so there’s leapfrogging and you don’t fall through the same mistakes that they may have done. So one practical example, for instance, in the healthcare is what Rwanda is doing using zipline where they are using drones powered by AI and what this AI does is to measure and check and know where blood supplies are low, for instance. And the drone takes it directly to these remote areas. And these are places that are usually hard to reach. And this is a practical example within the healthcare. But also even on the policy side, we are starting to use AI to harmonize. It’s much easier when, you know, you have so many different policies on the same topic. You can always leverage AI to harmonize. In the same vein, countries can also leverage the same technology to learn on what are the shortfalls of my policy, for instance. So these are some of the things. There are so many other examples, but these are what I wanted to share. Thank you.

Timea Suto: Thank you very much. Dr. Imagawa. Yes.

Takuo Imagawa: Thank you, Chair. I was very inspired very much by today’s discussion among the panelists and also from the audience. And it seems to me that there are a lot of discussions about using the digital technology in school or education process. And I think it’s very important to build up some specific projects to involve a lot of stakeholders. Let me introduce an example in my country. not my ministry, but the Ministry of Education, and we introduced a specific project called the Giga School Project, and it distributes a PC to every student in the elementary school and junior high school students. In that way, the vendors, the industrial sector, vendors and telecom operators are incentivized to join the project, because they can get money from the government. And also, teachers and students are of course involved, and also parents should be involved, because the homeworks have to be submitted through the PC or tablet, and also parents have to prevent the students from making access to the illegal or harmful information. So I think a specific project can involve a lot of stakeholders, and it’s very important for the government, and also the industrial sector, civil society and academia to build up a very good project involving a lot of stakeholders. Thank you.

Timea Suto: Thank you very much. So we’re coming up to the end of our session, actually we have one minute left for the two hours that we’ve had together. So I’m going to ask the indulgence of the audience to maybe bear with us at our panel for a little longer. I understand we have another intervention.

Audience: Thank you very much, I would also like to express myself in French, if you don’t mind. I wanted to share the experience of Senegal, I am the coordinator of a fund that is dedicated to access to universal services in the areas of disinheritance. I don’t, ma’am, please, because I don’t think we have interpretation. Can you hear English? So I am Mrs. Job. I coordinate a fund that has a fund for kids for digital inclusion. What you mentioned today is very important when we speak about ethical access for Internet where we have a positive change, actually. We reach zones sometimes where we search for connectivity, and some teenagers find a way to connect. So the state services are very important today in this digital world. My friend from Guinea mentioned the services they guarantee, but also we have societies that are not well structured. Because of this new component, digitally, in addition to databases and usage that is not really known for the community, so these actually are changing the modalities of the society, and these new AIs ask us and put new challenges, and we ask ourselves where are we heading, where our societies are heading, if we are really serving them, what are we doing? So these questions related to training to women, women who are… forgotten, or when we speak of uncomprehensive model of internet usage by teenagers, it makes us ask how and what is the future of societies that are already traditional in their way of living. So we should not forget that these training are important. Experiences are very important, their feedback also, to know how can we actually keep up with these transformations and have a positive transformation in society without unstructured values and destruction of values, cultural values, especially that are important for our life together. So how can this be an ally to us? This is my remark. That’s it. Thank you so much.

Timea Suto: I wanted to ask our panelists to each share a word in takeaway, but I am being told that we are running out of time, so I think I will share one word myself. Actually, two words, and those two words are thank you. Thank you to all of you here who have spent the last two hours in conversation with us, to all the speakers for making your way here to Riyadh and sharing your expertise and knowledge, to everybody in the audience who has listened and participated. Thank you to the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group who pulled this session together, and the coordinators, Manny and Chris, for bringing us together and inviting us for the conversation. And thank you to the IGF for making this possible, and I hope we can have many more conversations like this together. So a big round of applause to the speakers and to all of you. Thank you.

Agreement Points

Importance of connectivity for development and access to services

Gbenga Sesan

Thelma Quaye

Sally Wentworth

Takuo Imagawa

Connectivity can be a matter of life and death, enabling access to healthcare and education

Only 40% of Africans are connected to the internet due to infrastructure and affordability challenges

Community-centered connectivity approaches can empower local communities to build and maintain their own networks

Japan has achieved near-universal connectivity through a mix of competition policy and government support

Speakers agree that connectivity is crucial for development, enabling access to vital services like healthcare and education. They emphasize the need to address connectivity challenges through various approaches.

Need for multi-stakeholder collaboration to address digital divide

Thelma Quaye

Sally Wentworth

Takuo Imagawa

Alaa Abdulaal

Government intervention and public-private partnerships are needed to connect underserved areas

Civil society coalitions can leverage technology to advocate for better policies

Multistakeholder cooperation is essential to address digital divide challenges

Digital platforms can help share successful digital solutions between countries

Speakers agree that addressing the digital divide requires collaboration between governments, private sector, civil society, and international organizations. They emphasize the importance of knowledge sharing and joint efforts.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlight the potential of technology to empower marginalized communities and address specific local needs.

Shivnath Thukra

Jose Renato Laranjeira de Pereira

Open source technologies and AI can help bridge connectivity gaps and language barriers

Platforms connecting homeless workers to job opportunities show potential of appropriating technology

Both speakers emphasize the importance of empowering young people to engage safely and effectively in the digital world, whether for civic participation or general online activities.

Gbenga Sesan

Tami Bhaumik

Technology enables civic participation and political engagement for young people

Digital literacy and safety education are crucial, especially for children and parents

Unexpected Consensus

Importance of involving local communities and youth in technology development and policy-making

Jose Renato Laranjeira de Pereira

Tami Bhaumik

Sally Wentworth

Indigenous communities face both benefits and risks from increased connectivity

Digital literacy and safety education are crucial, especially for children and parents

Community-centered connectivity approaches can empower local communities to build and maintain their own networks

Despite coming from different backgrounds (academia, industry, and civil society), these speakers all emphasized the importance of involving local communities, especially youth and indigenous peoples, in shaping technology development and policies. This consensus highlights a growing recognition of the need for inclusive approaches in digital development.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The speakers generally agreed on the critical importance of connectivity for development, the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration to address the digital divide, and the potential of technology to empower marginalized communities. There was also consensus on the importance of digital literacy and safety, especially for young people.

Consensus level

The level of consensus among the speakers was relatively high, particularly on broad principles. This suggests a growing alignment in the international community on key digital development issues. However, there were some differences in emphasis and approach, particularly regarding the role of different stakeholders and the specific technologies to be prioritized. This implies that while there is general agreement on goals, there may still be debates on the best methods to achieve them.

Different Viewpoints

Approach to connectivity solutions

Sally Wentworth

Takuo Imagawa

Community-centered connectivity approaches can empower local communities to build and maintain their own networks

Japan has achieved near-universal connectivity through a mix of competition policy and government support

Wentworth advocates for a bottom-up, community-centered approach to connectivity, while Imagawa highlights Japan’s success through government-led policies and support.

Unexpected Differences

Focus on safety vs. connectivity

Tami Bhaumik

Thelma Quaye

Digital literacy and safety education are crucial, especially for children and parents

Only 40% of Africans are connected to the internet due to infrastructure and affordability challenges

While most speakers focused on increasing connectivity, Bhaumik unexpectedly emphasized the importance of digital safety and literacy, highlighting a potential tension between rapid connectivity expansion and ensuring user safety.

Overall Assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement centered around the best approaches to achieve connectivity, the role of different stakeholders, and the balance between expanding access and ensuring safety.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among speakers was moderate. While there were different perspectives on how to achieve digital inclusion, most speakers agreed on the overall goal of increasing connectivity and leveraging technology for development. These differences in approach could lead to varied policy recommendations and implementation strategies for addressing the digital divide.

Partial Agreements

Both speakers acknowledge the potential of technology to bridge gaps, but Pereira emphasizes the need to consider potential risks and challenges, especially for indigenous communities.

Shivnath Thukra

Jose Renato Laranjeira de Pereira

Open source technologies and AI can help bridge connectivity gaps and language barriers

Indigenous communities face both benefits and risks from increased connectivity

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlight the potential of technology to empower marginalized communities and address specific local needs.

Shivnath Thukra

Jose Renato Laranjeira de Pereira

Open source technologies and AI can help bridge connectivity gaps and language barriers

Platforms connecting homeless workers to job opportunities show potential of appropriating technology

Both speakers emphasize the importance of empowering young people to engage safely and effectively in the digital world, whether for civic participation or general online activities.

Gbenga Sesan

Tami Bhaumik

Technology enables civic participation and political engagement for young people

Digital literacy and safety education are crucial, especially for children and parents

Key Takeaways

Connectivity is crucial for enabling access to healthcare, education, and economic opportunities in underserved areas

Community-centered and multistakeholder approaches are important for sustainable connectivity solutions

Digital literacy, safety education, and skills development are essential complements to connectivity

Open source technologies and AI can help bridge connectivity gaps and language barriers

Technology enables new forms of civic participation and political engagement, especially for young people

Collaboration between governments, private sector, and civil society is necessary to address digital divide challenges

Resolutions and Action Items

Create platforms for sharing successful digital solutions between countries

Integrate digital literacy into education systems from an early age

Develop safety tools and resources for parents and children using online platforms

Involve youth meaningfully in technology policy development processes

Unresolved Issues

How to make devices and connectivity more affordable in low-income areas

Balancing the benefits and risks of connectivity for indigenous communities

Addressing potential negative societal impacts of rapid digitalization

Ensuring equitable access to emerging technologies like AI across different regions

Suggested Compromises

Using a mix of government support and market competition to expand connectivity

Maintaining analog options for public services alongside digital solutions

Leveraging open source technologies to enable localized and sovereign digital solutions

Connectivity could be a matter of life and death.

speaker

Gbenga Sesan

reason

This powerful statement reframes connectivity as not just a convenience, but a critical necessity. It challenges the audience to consider the real-world implications of the digital divide.

impact

This comment set a serious tone for the discussion and emphasized the urgency of addressing connectivity issues. It led to further examples of how connectivity impacts education, healthcare, and economic opportunities.

We need government intervention now. It doesn’t have to be a private sector thing anymore. It has to be a PPP where government is now investing in infrastructure, for instance, and giving this infrastructure to the private sector to build upon.

speaker

Thelma Quaye

reason

This comment introduces a shift in thinking about how to address connectivity challenges, moving from a purely private sector approach to a public-private partnership model.

impact

This sparked discussion about the role of government in providing digital infrastructure and the need for collaboration between public and private sectors. It led to further exploration of policy frameworks and incentives.

Communities can connect themselves, I think is a powerful approach to this, and one that, again, as I said, the Internet Society has been committed to and will continue to be committed to.

speaker

Sally Wentworth

reason

This comment introduces the concept of community-centered connectivity solutions, challenging the top-down approach often taken in addressing the digital divide.

impact

It shifted the conversation to consider grassroots and local solutions, leading to discussions about empowering communities and the importance of local context in connectivity initiatives.

Today, it is possible using a program like NLLB 200, which Meta runs. It’s a program called No Language Left Behind, where almost 200 languages can be translated directly with each other.

speaker

Shivnath Thukra

reason

This comment introduces a concrete technological solution to language barriers, which is a key aspect of digital inclusion often overlooked in connectivity discussions.

impact

It broadened the conversation beyond physical connectivity to include linguistic accessibility, leading to further discussion on how AI and technology can address various aspects of the digital divide.

Parents have no idea how to guide their children in this new internet world. It is up to us collectively to make sure that we have the power to be able to educate parents so they can help their children to thrive, and that is through industry.

speaker

Tami Bhaumik

reason

This comment highlights the often-overlooked aspect of parental education in digital literacy, shifting the focus from just connecting people to ensuring they can navigate the digital world safely.

impact

It led to a deeper discussion on digital literacy, safety, and the responsibilities of tech companies in educating users. It also introduced the importance of intergenerational learning in the digital age.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by broadening the scope of the conversation from merely providing physical connectivity to addressing the multifaceted challenges of digital inclusion. They highlighted the need for collaborative approaches involving governments, private sector, and communities, while also emphasizing the importance of addressing linguistic barriers, safety concerns, and digital literacy. The discussion evolved from a focus on infrastructure to a more holistic view of creating a meaningful and safe digital experience for all users, regardless of their background or location.

How can we create a uniform digital framework for evaluating student examinations worldwide?

speaker

Arjun Singh Bjoria (audience member)

explanation

This question highlights the need for standardized assessment methods in education using digital technologies across different countries and education systems.

How can we meaningfully include teens and youth in the development of online safety policies and technologies?

speaker

Tami Bhaumik

explanation

This area for research emphasizes the importance of incorporating young people’s perspectives and experiences when designing safety measures for digital platforms.

How can we use AI tools to make constitutional drafting and legal processes more interactive and accessible to citizens?

speaker

Shivnath Thukra

explanation

This suggestion points to the potential for using AI to enhance civic engagement and understanding of legal documents.

How can we ensure that analog alternatives are maintained alongside digital public services?

speaker

Jose Renato Laranjeira de Pereira

explanation

This area for research addresses the need to cater to populations who may not have access to or the ability to use digital technologies.

How can we leverage AI to harmonize policies across different countries and identify shortfalls in existing policies?

speaker

Thelma Quaye

explanation

This research area explores the potential of AI in improving policy-making and international cooperation.

How can we ensure that digital transformation positively impacts traditional societies without disrupting important cultural values?

speaker

Audience member (Mrs. Job)

explanation

This question highlights the need to balance technological progress with cultural preservation in diverse societies.