The Next Page

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/kjatLR9EjHY

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

This is AI x Multilateralism, a playlist of conversations at the Commons, our space at the UN Library & Archives Geneva for sharing knowledge on multilateralism. In this series, 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 ask: can AI help us better predict, respond to, and recover from crises? We’re joined by Dr. Martin Waehlisch, Associate Professor of Transformative Technologies, Innovation and Global Affairs at the University of Birmingham. He’s also part of the Research Team of the Crisis Computing Project, a global community of scholars and practitioners who are driven to put computation to better use.  
 
He shares:

what drives his teaching today on transformative technologies, and why he prefers the term “computational global affairs” to “international affairs” in today’s world

what exactly crisis computing means, and the kinds of crises he hopes that AI can help us to address, from complex climate prediction to public participation in decision-making

the potential of crisis computing at the local, regional and multilateral level, and his thoughts on how crisis computing can be addressed as part of the UN’s Global Dialogue on AI and the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, both established by the UN General Assembly in 2025, and

what is still missing in the global debate when it comes to how we use AI individually and collectively. 

Resources mentioned: 

The Crisis Computing Project: https://crisiscomputing.org/  

The Peace and Security Data Hub : https://psdata.un.org/  

The Complex Risk Analytics Fund (CRAF’d): https://crafd.io/ and the Humanitarian Data Exchange: https://data.humdata.org/  

Production:   

Guest: Dr. Martin Waehlisch 
Host, production and editing: Natalie Alexander Julien 


Podcast Music credits:
Sequence: https://uppbeat.io/track/img/sequence
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/img/sequence
License code: 6ZFT9GJWASPTQZL0

Recorded & produced at the Commons, United Nations Library & Archives Geneva 

#AI #Multilateralism #CrisisComputing #CrisisResponse

In this episode we speak with Jean-Claude Burgelman about what open science means, why it accelerates innovation, and why we need it now.

Jean-Claude Burgelman discusses practical benefits for businesses and NGOs, barriers like paywalled publishing and academic incentives, and the urgent need to make publicly funded data usable.

Jean-Claude argues for multilateral infrastructure—a global open science cloud—and a new social contract for science, drawing on insights from this year's Frontiers Science House at Davos.

The episode closes with a call to rethink institutions and governance so open science can drive faster, fairer solutions to global challenges.

Resources: Ask a Librarian!

Frontiers Planet Prize: https://www.frontiersplanetprize.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/QBWMVpmW3pI

Content   

Guest: Jean-Claude Burgelman

Hosts: Amy Smith and Wouter Schallier

Production and editing: UN Library & Archives Geneva

Recorded & produced at the United Nations Library & Archives Geneva