This is AI x Multilateralism, a playlist of at the UN Library & Archives Geneva where we’re joined by experts who help us unpack the many ideas and issues at the nexus of AI and international cooperation. In this episode, we're joined by Wendell Wallach, a bioethicist who's been working on the ethics and governance of emerging technologies for decades. He’s the author of two books – A Dangerous Master, and Moral Machines – and until 2024, co-led the Carnegie Council’s AI and Equality Initiative. He’s also senior advisor to The Hastings Center, and a scholar at Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, where for 11 years he chaired Technology and Ethics studies. For this episode, we’re sharing excerpts from a wide-ranging conversation where he shares his view on the ethics and governance of AI, the continued relevance of his books on robots and technologies many years after they were first published, what we can learn from bioethics, and the urgent need for oversight to align technology with human and environmental interests. Resources:

• Read "A Framework for the International Governance of AI" - Carnegie Council's AI & Equality Initiative.
• Read the new preface to "A Dangerous Master - How to Keep Technology from Slipping Beyond Our Control" by Wendell Wallach.
• Visit Wendell Wallach's website.
• Learn about the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance and the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI.

Production:

Guest: Wendell Wallach Host, production and editing: Natalie Alexander Julien Editorial assistance: Amy Smith and Wouter Schallier

Podcast Music credits:

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/img/sequence License code: 18P7IHFDKCA4SHFM

Recorded & produced at the Commons, United Nations Library & Archives Geneva #AI #Multilateralism #AIEthics #AIGovernance

Start Close In: Diplomacy, Technology, and the Ground Beneath Our Feet In this episode of The Next Page, we talk with Anja Kaspersen — an IEEE director and former director of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs in Geneva and Deputy Secretary General of the Conference on Disarmament — about having more confident discussions on technology, and how poetry, attention, and disciplined perception can guide diplomacy in an age of emerging technologies.

Anja argues that the ground for engagement is not technical mastery but institutional literacy. She explains why diplomats should remain at the table, ask architectural questions, and translate between technical and policy worlds.

The conversation covers science diplomacy, the changing nature of arms control and dual-use technologies, the importance of redundancy, resilience, and interoperability, and the need for anticipatory governance rather than reactive responses.

Takeaways include strengthening discernment, preserving archives and institutional memory, resisting binary framings, and investing in human skills to govern technology responsibly.

Resources: Ask a Librarian!

David Whyte: https://davidwhyte.com/ Maria Popova: https://www.themarginalian.org/

Where to listen to this episode

• Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-next-page/id1469021154
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/10fp8ROoVdve0el88KyFLy
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/w4L1S0nhCoo

Content

Guest: Anja Kaspersen

Hosts: Amy Smith and Wouter Schallier Production and editing: Amy Smith

Recorded & produced at the United Nations Library & Archives Geneva

Historian Alanna O'Malley explores how Global South actors have shaped the United Nations, arguing we should view today's challenges as an opportunity for a UN 'renaissance' rather than a collapse. She highlights invisible histories, multi-alignment strategies, regional and minilateral developments, and the need for Charter reform, greater legitimacy, accountability and public engagement to renew multilateralism.

Professor O'Malley reflects from a historical point of view on the upcoming process of selection and appointment of the next Secretary-General highlighting the importance that broad global perspective and public traction need to play and urges recognizing the UN as a flexible, multipurpose institution that must be retooled and better resourced to protect sovereignty, human rights and equal representation.

Resources: Ask a Librarian!

https://www.eur.nl/en/people/alanna-sylver-omalley

Where to listen to this episode

• Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-next-page/id1469021154
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/10fp8ROoVdve0el88KyFLy
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/

Content

Guest: Professor Dr. Alanna O'Malley

Host, production and editing: Amy Smith, UN Library & Archives Geneva

Recorded & produced at the United Nations Library & Archives Geneva