Tag Archives: stay

Can workers compete with machines and stay relevant in the AI era?

Posted on by
Reply

Whether you are a “doomer” or a “boomer” on the subject, it’s impossible to ignore AI, which is seeping into every corner of our personal and professional lives.

The UN has been banging the drum for a “people-first” approach to the subject for years now.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the Security Council back in 2024 that the fate of humanity “must never be left to the ‘black box’ of an algorithm,” and that people must always retain oversight and control over AI decision-making to ensure that human rights are upheld.

Since then, the UN System has been consolidating work on the ethical global governance of AI, building on the guidelines and recommendations contained in the landmark Global Digital Compact.

Here is a selection of the key ideas.

1. Education is key

The UN consistently highlights education as central to ensuring people remain relevant in an AI-enabled future. This is not just about plugging AI tools into the education system but making sure that students and educators are “AI-literate.”

“The global education system will need 44 million teachers by 2030,” says Shafika Isaacs, head of technology and AI in education at UNESCO (the UN agency for education, science and culture). “We believe that it is a mistake to argue that we need to invest more in AI technologies rather than investing in teachers. AI can manage data transfer, but it cannot manage human development, Education is fundamentally a social, human and cultural experience and not a technical download.”

2. Embrace the change

Many people across the world are concerned about losing their jobs in the AI era. The World Economic Forum NGO estimated in 2025 that some 41 per cent of employers were planning on cutting their workforce due to AI.

At the same time, new roles matching human strengths with machine capabilities are likely to emerge, because although machines are great at recognizing patterns and repetitive tasks – creativity, judgment, ethical reasoning, and complex interpersonal interactions require a human touch.

Working with global research partners, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has predicted that while one in four jobs is likely to be transformed by AI, this doesn’t necessarily mean net job losses. 

However, the way that work is performed is likely to significantly change, putting the onus on workers to be highly adaptable, and open to the idea of constantly learning new skills and training throughout their working lives.

© Unsplash/Aidin Geranrekab

Artificial Intelligence is currently revolutionising the smartphone industry.

3. Make AI available for all

A handful of tech giants are driving research into AI and dominating the creation of new tools. The UN is concerned that, unless access to the technology is widened, inequality between countries and within societies will grow.

Strategies developed by the UN emphasise that educational, economic, and governance policies should ensure that AI benefits are broadly shared, not confined to the privileged or technologically advanced.

4. Put human rights first

The UN has repeatedly stressed that AI development must respect human rights, dignity and inclusiveness, and warned that unchecked automation will have far reaching social consequences. 

In 2021, after extensive consultations with global experts, UNESCO released Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, which argues that human rights can’t be optional – they have to be the binding baseline of sustainable AI systems. 

The document argues that tools that threaten dignity, equality or freedom should be restricted or banned, and that governments must actively regulate and enforce these standards. 

5. The whole world needs to agree on the way forward

This is not an issue that an individual government, private sector, or civil society can navigate alone, and the UN is calling for far greater international cooperation to manage the risks and opportunities of AI.

This could take the form of dialogues on governance and ethics, UN-supported platforms for coordination, and partnerships between the public and private sectors to fund education and workforce development.

Source link

Plastic pollution talks adjourn, but countries want to stay engaged: UNEP chief

Posted on by
Reply

“This has been a hard-fought 10 days against the backdrop of geopolitical complexities, economic challenges and multilateral strains,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). “However, one thing remains clear: despite these complexities, all countries clearly want to remain at the table.”   

Speaking to media at the end of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) talks at the UN in the Swiss city, Ms. Andersen emphasized how Member States had expressed a clear wish to continue engaging in the process, recognising their significant differences regarding plastic pollution.

“While we did not land the treaty text we hoped for, we at UNEP will continue the work against plastic pollution – pollution that is in our groundwater, in our soil, in our rivers, in our oceans and yes, in our bodies,” she said.

World view

“People are demanding a treaty,” the UN agency head continued, before underscoring the hard work that lies ahead to maintain the momentum needed to ink a binding international accord.

Delegates from 183 nations attested to the convening power and importance of the proposed agreement, with some Pacific island representatives – complete with dazzling fresh blooms in their hair – rubbing shoulders with other participants, drained by the final all-night negotiating session.

The resumed fifth session of talks – referred to as INC-5.2, after previous talks in Busan known as INC-5.1 – gathered more than 2,600 participants at the UN Palais des Nations. In addition to the approximately 1,400 country delegates, there were close to 1,000 observers representing at least 400 organizations.

NGO voices heard

The session also involved the active participation of civil society – including Indigenous Peoples, waste pickers, artists, young people and scientists. They raised their voices through protests, art installations, press briefings and events in and around the Palace of Nations.

The goal of the negotiations was to agree on a text for the legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution “and highlight unresolved issues requiring further preparatory work ahead of a diplomatic conference”, UNEP said.

In addition to meetings together in UN Geneva’s vast assembly hall, four contact groups were created to tackle key issues including plastic design, chemicals of concern, production caps, finance and compliance instruments.

Despite “intensive engagement”, Members of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee was unable to reach consensus on the proposed texts, UNEP explained.

Chair’s action call

“Failing to reach the goal we set for ourselves may bring sadness, even frustration. Yet it should not lead to discouragement. On the contrary, it should spur us to regain our energy, renew our commitments, and unite our aspirations,” said INC Chair, Luis Vayas Valdivieso.

“It has not happened yet in Geneva, but I have no doubt that the day will come when the international community will unite its will and join hands to protect our environment and safeguard the health of our people.” 

The INC process began in March 2022 when the UN Environment Assembly passed resolution 5.2 to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.   

“As this session concludes, we leave with an understanding of the challenges ahead and a renewed and shared commitment to address them,” said Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the INC Secretariat. “Progress must now be our obligation.”  

Source link

UN envoy urges Colombia to ‘stay the course’ as peace faces new strains

Posted on by
Reply

Briefing the Security Council for the last time as head of the UN Verification Mission, Special Representative Carlos Ruiz Massieu said the peace agreement provided a roadmap for addressing the root causes of conflict.

“The Final Peace Agreement of 2016 set out the path to be followed: a holistic and comprehensive roadmap for addressing deep-rooted structural issues that have driven violence in Colombia for decades,” he told ambassadors.

He cited progress in land reform, rural development, the reintegration of more than 13,000 former combatants, the start of a “complex journey” for truth and reconciliation and opening of political space.

“Today, Colombia is a very different country from that it was in the years prior to the signing of the peace agreement,” he added, noting, however, that gaps and challenges remain.

SRSG Ruiz Massieu briefs the Security Council.

Violence persists

Chief among these is the limited presence of civilian and military state institutions in various regions of the country where existing peace dividends remain inadequate and violence persists, including against social leaders and ex-combatants.

At least 472 former fighters have been killed since 2016, four in recent weeks alone, Mr. Ruiz Massieu said, urging measures to strengthen their protection and ensure accountability.

“It is also essential to achieve effective complementarity between peacebuilding policies, security strategies and efforts to combat illicit economies,” he added.

Painful moments revived

Mr. Ruiz Massieu highlighted progress on opening political space, noting “a widespread rejection of political violence”, but warning that the attempted assassination of presidential candidate Miguel Uribe in June revived painful memories and underscored the need to remove violence from electoral competition.

To address persistent insecurity, he urged full implementation of security guarantees alongside rural development programmes and strategies to combat illicit economies.

“Expanded and sustained state presence remains essential,” he said, stressing the need for coordinated investments in conflict-prone regions.

A wide view of the Security Council meeting on the UN Verification Mission in Colombia (UNVMC).

Upcoming elections

The briefing also comes as Colombia enters a sensitive period leading to elections next year.

Mr. Ruiz Massieu appealed to all actors to uphold commitments for a peaceful campaign and to advance the comprehensive vision of the 2016 accord, which includes provisions for women as well as Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities.

“In their pursuit of peace, Colombians have a deeply rooted history of resilience and persistence,” he said. “Sometimes their efforts have not yielded the expected results, but other times, thanks to patience and perseverance, they have achieved significant progress.”

Path to peace is never easy

“The path to peace is never easy, nor is it free of obstacles. But, staying the course is always worthwhile,” he concluded. “The 2016 peace agreement is a striking example of this.”

Mr. Ruiz Massieu, who has led the mission for more than six years, will soon assume duties as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti.

He thanked the Council for its “consistent and crucial” support, adding that the UN mission’s role in fostering trust “will remain as important as ever in the period ahead”.

Source link

Supreme Court issues stay on Govt’s Fact-Checking Unit

Posted on by
Reply

On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a stay on the Union’s notification regarding the establishment of the Fact-Check Unit (FCU) in accordance with the IT Amendment Rules 2023. This stay will remain in effect until the Bombay High Court reaches a final decision on the challenges to the IT Rules amendment of 2023. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had recently designated the Press Information Bureau as the FCU.

The Supreme Court’s decision to issue the stay was made without expressing a definitive opinion on the merits of the ongoing challenge to the Rules before the Bombay High Court. However, the Court found prima facie grounds to stay the March 20 notification, which would have made the contested Rules operational. Additionally, the Supreme Court overturned the Bombay High Court’s March 11 order, which had denied a stay on the implementation of the Rules and subsequently allowed the Centre to notify the FCU. The Court noted that the challenge to the rules presents “serious constitutional questions” and emphasized the need for analysis by the High Court regarding the impact of the amended Rule 3(1)(b)(v) on the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.

The bench, consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, heard Special Leave Petitions filed by Kunal Kamra, Editors Guild of India, and the Association of Indian Magazines, challenging the Bombay High Court’s refusal to stay the implementation of the IT Rules 2023. During the proceedings, Senior Advocate Darius Khambata, representing comedian Kunal Kamra, presented several arguments: firstly, that having an FCU exclusively for the Union Government is arbitrary; secondly, that the FCU could lead to the dissemination of only the Government’s perspective; and thirdly, that with elections approaching, the FCU could be exploited as a means for the Union to control the flow of information to voters.

“Why is the FCU only for the Central Govt? Why isn’t there an independent body for everyone, rather than just for the Central Govt.? If the objective is to combat fake news, then everyone is impacted by it.”

 

Should I stay or should I leave?

Posted on by
Reply

Knowing whether to stay in or leave a romantic relationship is often an agonizing experience and that ambivalence can have negative consequences for health and well-being.

Now a new study offers insights into what people are deliberating about and what makes the decision so difficult, which could help therapists working with couples and stimulate further research into the decision-making process.

The study, led by U psychology professor Samantha Joel, was published in Social Psychology and Personality Science. Co-authors were Geoff MacDonald and Elizabeth Page-Gould of the University of Toronto.

“Most of the research on breakups has been predictive, trying to predict whether a couple stays together or not, but we don’t know much about the decision process — what are the specific relationship pros and cons that people are weighing out,” Joel said.

In the first phase of the study, the researchers recruited three samples of people — including people who were in the midst of trying to decide whether to break up or not — to participate in an anonymous survey.

Participants were asked open-ended questions about their specific reasons for both wanting to stay and leave a relationship.

That yielded a list of 27 different reasons for wanting to stay in a relationship and 23 reasons for wanting to leave.

The stay/leave factors were then converted into a questionnaire that was given to another group of people who were trying to decide whether to end a dating relationship or marriage. Those dating had been together for two years on average, while married participants reported relationships that averaged nine years.

In both studies, general factors considered as the individuals deliberated what to do were similar.

At the top of the stay list: emotional intimacy, investment and a sense of obligation. At the top of the leave list: issues with a partner’s personality, breach of trust and partner withdrawal.

Individuals in both dating and married situations gave similar reasons for wanting to leave a relationship.

But the researchers found significant differences in stay reasoning between the two groups.

Participants who were in a dating relationship said they were considering staying based on more positive reasons such as aspects of their partner’s personality that they like, emotional intimacy and enjoyment of the relationship. Those who were married gave more constraint reasons for staying such as investment into the relationship, family responsibilities, fear of uncertainty and logistical barriers.

And about half of the participants said they had reasons to both stay and leave, indicating ambivalence about their relationships.

“What was most interesting to me was how ambivalent people felt about their relationships. They felt really torn,” Joel said. “Breaking up can be a really difficult decision. You can look at a relationship from outside and say ‘you have some really unsolvable problems, you should break up’ but from the inside that is a really difficult thing to do and the longer you’ve been in a relationship, the harder it seems to be.”

Most people, Joel said, have standards and deal breakers about the kind of person they want to date or marry but those often go out the window when they meet someone.

“Humans fall in love for a reason,” Joel said. “From an evolutionary perspective, for our ancestors finding a partner may have been more important than finding the right partner. It might be easier to get into relationships than to get back out of them.”