Policy Briefing — UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI
UNESCO’s General Conference unanimously adopted the first global standard on the ethics of artificial intelligence, setting principles for human rights, fairness, and sustainability.
The recommendation establishes values-based principles—human dignity, non-discrimination, environmental sustainability—and policy action areas including data governance, gender equality, education, culture, and labour.
- Ethical safeguards. Member states are urged to ban social scoring, ensure human oversight, and protect privacy.
- Regulatory guidance. UNESCO calls for impact assessments, algorithmic transparency, and independent audits.
- International cooperation. The recommendation promotes capacity building and open science to bridge digital divides.
Global compliance programmes can use the UNESCO standard to benchmark corporate AI ethics commitments across markets.