science

ITU AI for Good

ITU AI for Good is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand ITU AI for Good rather than just read about it. In short: AI for Good was established in 2017 by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations (UN) agency for digital technologies. The platform is co-convened with the Government of Switzerland and in partnership UN agencies.

Key takeaways

ITU AI for Good belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect ITU AI for Good to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of ITU AI for Good from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

AI for Good was established in 2017 by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations (UN) agency for digital technologies. The platform is co-convened with the Government of Switzerland and in partnership UN agencies. Its founding mission is to identify innovative applications of artificial intelligence (AI) to solve global challenges. AI for Good arose from collaboration between ITU and IBM Watson AI XPRIZE. The first AI for Good Global Summit 2017 was held in Geneva, Switzerland and is since held annually.

Activity With the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and global shutdowns, AI for Good moved online in March 2020. The platform has 37,000 contributors from more than 180 countries. Since 2023 AI for Good hosts a physical Global Summit in Geneva again annually. AI for Good has supported Global Initiatives on AI and Data Commons, AI for Health (in partnership with WHO), on Resilience to Natural Hazards through AI Solutions (former ITU/WMO/UNEP Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Natural Disaster Management (FG-AI4NDM) ), AI and Multimedia authenticity standards collaboration (under the World Standards Cooperation), AI for Road Safety (in partnership with UNECE) and pre-standardization focus groups on Artificial Intelligence Native for Telecommunication Networks (FG-AINN), AI and Internet of Things (IoT) for Digital Agriculture (in partnership with FAO), concluded focus groups on AI and Environmental Efficiency, Machine Learning and 5G. AI for Good is guided by Resolution 214 of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, and amplified by Resolution A/78/L.49 of the UN General Assembly. The adoption of Resolution COM4/AI at WTSA-24 describes ITU's mandate and AI for Good's role in AI development.

Global summit 2017

The first AI for Good Global summit took place from 7 to 9 June 2017. Speakers at the event included:

One of the outcomes of the 2017 Global Summit was the creation of an ITU-T Focus Group on Machine Learning for 5G.

Global summit 2018

The second AI for Good Global Summit took place from 15 to 17 May 2018 at the ITU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and generated 35 AI project proposals. Speakers included:

Global summit 2019 The third AI for Good Global Summit took place from 28 May to 31 May, and gave rise to the ITU Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Autonomous and Assisted Driving with several Day 0 workshops and VIP events having taken place on May 27. Some of the speakers included:

2020, 2022 In 2020 the Global Summit was an online-only event. In 2022, the summit moved to the "Neural Network" community platform. Speakers included:

Global Summit 2023 The 2023 AI for Good Global Summit took place on 6 – 7 July in Geneva. The event brought together participants, including government officials, policymakers, industry leaders, academics, scientists, technology innovators, civil society members, and representatives from the UN community. The summit received some publicity due to the large gathering of humanoid robots that occurred, including Ai-Da, Nadine Social Robot, Geminoid, and Sophia.

Global summit 2024 The 2024 AI for Good Global Summit was held in Geneva on May 30 – 31. The event was attended by leaders from governments, industries, and academia, alongside 10,000 online participants. Highlights included the launch of a unified framework for AI standards by ITU, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), addressing issues like AI watermarking and deepfake detection, and over 400 UN-led AI projects. The Summit also introduced the AI for Good Impact Initiative, aiming to scale AI solutions globally and foster regional engagement through competitions, accelerators, and policy guidance. Demonstrations showcased innovations, including generative AI and mind-controlled robotic prosthetics.

Global summit 2025

The 2025 AI for Good Global Summit was held in Geneva on July 8 – 11. It showcased progress on areas including networking, multimedia, energy efficiency, healthcare, food security, and road safety. Just prior to her keynote talk, speaker Abeba Birhane was asked modify her presentation to change mentions of Israel, Palestine, genocide and negative comments regarding technology companies. Birhane subsequently made the original presentation available and highlighted that 45% the centre stage speakers at the conference were from industry with academia and civil-society speakers sharing less than 10%.

Outcomes

Machine Learning 5G The ITU-T Focus Group on Machine Learning for 5G Networks (FG-ML5G) was created following discussions at the 2017 AI for Good Global Summit. The FG-ML5G is produced several technology standards in this domain, including Y.3172, Y.3173, Y.3176, which were adopted by ITU-T Study Group 13. The FG-ML5G created the impetus for a new ITU-T Focus Group on Autonomous Networks, which is responsible for i.a. Y.3181.

AI for Health The 2018 Global Summit led to the creation of the ITU-WHO Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health with the World Health Organization, which created the AI for Health Framework.

ITU Journal "ICT Discoveries" The ITU relaunched its Journal ICT Discoveries during the 2018 Global Summit, with the first edition being a special on Artificial Intelligence.

Criticism Payal Arora criticized AI for Good for its paternalism towards the Global South.

References

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with ITU AI for Good

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what ITU AI for Good claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to ITU AI for Good before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about ITU AI for Good ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of ITU AI for Good

In research: ITU AI for Good appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses ITU AI for Good in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: ITU AI for Good is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Artificial intelligence conferences, International business conferences, Recurring events established in 2017, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for ITU AI for Good outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study ITU AI for Good in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what ITU AI for Good means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain ITU AI for Good out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is ITU AI for Good in simple terms?

Why does ITU AI for Good matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study ITU AI for Good?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on ITU AI for Good.