AI for All: UN Summit of the Future Highlights Opportunity

Editor’s note: This week in New York City, leaders from around the world are gathering for the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) — including the first ever “Summit of the Future” — where Google CEO Sundar Pichai delivered a keynote address today.

What follows is a transcript of the remarks, as prepared for delivery.

Introduction

Mr. Secretary-General, President of the General Assembly, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen — it's an honor to be here with you today.

I'm really excited about the summit's focus on what's ahead. We've got a unique chance to unlock human potential, for everyone, everywhere.

I truly believe that technology is the key to making progress. Just like the internet and mobile phones opened up new opportunities worldwide, AI is set to speed up progress on a massive scale.

I'm here to talk about three main points:

• Why I think AI is so game-changing
• How it can help humanity and push forward the UN's Sustainable Development Goals
• And how we can build stronger partnerships to make sure technology benefits everyone

Expanding opportunity through technology

But first, let me explain why this is so important to me, and to Google as a company.

Growing up in Chennai, India, each new piece of technology made a big difference in our lives. Our first rotary phone saved us hours of travel to the hospital for test results. Our first refrigerator meant more family time, instead of rushing to cook before food spoiled.

The technology that had the biggest impact on me was the computer. I didn't have much access to one as a kid. But when I got to grad school in the US, there were labs full of computers I could use whenever I wanted — it was incredible. That access inspired me to pursue a career where I could bring technology to more people.

That journey led me to Google 20 years ago. I was drawn to its mission: to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

That mission has made a huge impact:

Google Search made information accessible to everyone, opening up opportunities in education and entrepreneurship. Platforms like Chrome and Android helped bring a billion people online.

Today, 15 of our products serve over half a billion people and businesses each. And six of them serve over 2 billion. They're free to use, and most of our users are in the developing world.

The AI opportunity

Today, we're working on the most transformative technology yet: AI.

We've been investing in AI research, tools, and infrastructure for two decades because it's the best way we can fulfill our mission — and improve people's lives.

I want to talk about four big opportunities we see, many of which align with the SDGs.

One is helping people access the world's information and knowledge in their own language.

Using AI, in just the last year, we've added 110 new languages to Google Translate, spoken by half a billion people around the world. That brings our total to 246 languages, and we're working toward 1,000 of the world's most spoken languages.

A second area is speeding up scientific discovery to benefit humanity.

Our AlphaFold breakthrough is tackling big challenges in predicting some of life's building blocks, like proteins and DNA. We've made AlphaFold available to the scientific community for free, and it's been used by over two million researchers from more than 190 countries. Thirty percent are in the developing world - for example, over 25,000 researchers just in Brazil. Globally, AlphaFold is being used in research that could help make crops more resistant to disease, discover new drugs for things like malaria vaccines and cancer treatments, and much more.

A third opportunity is helping people in the path of climate-related disasters, building on the UN's initiative for “Early Warnings for All.” Our Flood Hub system provides early warnings up to seven days in advance, helping protect over 460 million people in over 80 countries.

And for millions in the paths of wildfires, our boundary tracking systems are already in 22 countries on Google Maps. We also just announced FireSat technology, which will use satellites to detect and track early-stage wildfires, with imagery updated every 20 minutes globally, so firefighters can respond. AI gives a boost in accuracy, speed, and scale.

Fourth, we see the opportunity for AI to really contribute to economic progress. It's already helping entrepreneurs and small businesses, empowering governments to provide public services, and boosting productivity across sectors. Some studies show that AI could boost global labor productivity by 1.4 percentage points, and increase global GDP by 7%, within the next decade.

For example, AI is helping improve operations and logistics in emerging markets, where connectivity, infrastructure, and traffic congestion are big challenges. Freight startup Gary Logistics in Ethiopia is using AI to help move goods to market faster and bring more work opportunities to freelance drivers.

These are just early examples. And there are so many others across education, health, and sustainability. As technology improves, so will the benefits.

The risks of AI

As with any new technology, AI will have its limitations, like issues with accuracy, factuality, and bias, as well as the risks of misapplication and misuse, like the creation of deep fakes.

It also brings new complexities, like the impact on the future of work.

For all these reasons, we believe that AI must be developed, deployed, and used responsibly, from the start.

We're guided by our AI Principles, which we published back in 2018. And we work with others across the industry, academia, the UN, and governments in efforts like the Frontier Model Forum, the O.E.C.D., and the G7 Hiroshima Process.

Preventing an AI divide

But I want to talk about another risk that worries me.

I think about where I grew up, and how lucky I was to have access to technology, even if it came slowly.

Not everyone had that experience. And while good progress has been made by UN institutions like the I.T.U., gaps still exist in the form of a well-known digital divide.

With AI, we have the chance to be inclusive from the start, and to ensure that the digital divide doesn't become an AI divide. This is a challenge that needs to be met by the private sector and public sector working together. We can focus on three key areas:

First is digital infrastructure.

Google has made big investments globally in subsea and terrestrial fiber optic cables.

One connects Africa with Europe, and two others will be the first intercontinental fiber optic routes that connect Asia Pacific and South America, and Australia and Africa.

These fiber optic routes stitch together our network of 40 cloud regions around the world that provide digital services to governments, entrepreneurs, SMBs, and companies across all sectors.

In addition to compute access, we also open up our technology to others. We did this with Android; and now our Gemma AI models are open to developers and researchers, and we will continue to invest here.

A second area is about investing in people.

That starts with making sure people have the skills they need to seize new opportunities.

Our Grow with Google program has already trained 100 million people around the world in digital skills.

And today I'm proud to announce our Global AI Opportunity Fund. This will invest $120 million to make AI education and training available in communities around the world. We're providing this in local languages, in partnership with nonprofits and NGOs.

We're also helping to support entrepreneurs for the AI revolution. In Brazil, we worked with thousands of women entrepreneurs to use Google AI to grow their businesses. In Asia, where fewer than six percent of start-ups are founded by women, we're providing many with mentorship, capital, and training.

An enabling policy environment

The third area is one where we especially need the help of the member countries and leaders in this room: creating an enabling policy environment. One that addresses both the risks and worries around new technologies, and also encourages the kinds of applications that improve lives at scale.

This requires a few things:

• Government policymaking that supports investments in infrastructure, people, and innovation that benefits humanity,
• Country development strategies and frameworks like the Global Digital Compact that prioritize the adoption of AI solutions,
• And smart product regulation that mitigates harms and resists national protectionist impulses — that could widen an AI divide and limit AI's benefits.

We are excited to be your partner, and to work with you to make sure bold innovations are deployed responsibly so that AI is truly helpful for everyone.

The opportunities are too great, the challenges too urgent, and this technology too transformational, to do anything less.

Thank you.