Summits bring thought leaders together around a specific topic to create a strategy or policy recommendation. The summit format also encourages the creation of ongoing, in-depth collaborations. Summits are often invitation-only, with limited seats available to key decision-makers and specialized experts. Summits can be focused on a single academic discipline or tightly defined research area. They can also be broader in scope, covering multiple areas of study and including numerous stakeholders.
The AI for Good Global Summit opened this week in Geneva, bringing together governments, tech leaders, academia, civil society and young people to discuss how to direct artificial intelligence toward Sustainable Development Goals – and away from growing risks of inequality, misinformation and environmental strain. With experts predicting human-level AI within the next three years, the meeting comes at a time of rising anxieties over safety, bias and energy consumption.
Azerbaijan’s COP29 Presidency is expected to focus on climate justice and the modernization of the Bretton Woods institutions. Amnesty International hopes that the summit will include robust conflict-of-interest policies to prevent fossil fuel lobbyists from hijacking climate treaties, opposing essential efforts to phase out fossil fuels and pushing for false solutions like carbon offsetting.
This year’s summit will focus on five key challenges: healthy energy systems, inclusive economic growth, sustainable communities, land and ocean stewardship, and transformative climate investments. It will take place at a moment of historic change, when we are on the verge of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reimagine multilateral governance designed in simpler, slower times and steer humanity onto a path that meets our current commitments and solves our most complex, long-term challenges.
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