The Opportunities, Limitations, and Challenges in Using Machine Learning Technologies for Humanitarian Work and Development

Vedran Sekara, Márton Karsai, Esteban Moro, Dohyung Kim, Enrique Delamonica, Manuel Cebrian, Miguel Luengo-Oroz, Rebeca Moreno Jiménez, Manuel Garcia-Herranz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Novel digital data sources and tools like machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to revolutionize data about development and can contribute to monitoring and mitigating humanitarian problems. The potential of applying novel technologies to solving some of humanity's most pressing issues has garnered interest outside the traditional disciplines studying and working on international development. Today, scientific communities in fields like Computational Social Science, Network Science, Complex Systems, Human Computer Interaction, Machine Learning, and the broader AI field are increasingly starting to pay attention to these pressing issues. However, are sophisticated data driven tools ready to be used for solving real-world problems with imperfect data and of staggering complexity? We outline the current state-of-the-art and identify barriers, which need to be surmounted in order for data-driven technologies to become useful in humanitarian and development contexts. We argue that, without organized and purposeful efforts, these new technologies risk at best falling short of promised goals, at worst they can increase inequality, amplify discrimination, and infringe upon human rights.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2440002
JournalAdvances in Complex Systems
Volume27
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 3 May 2024

Keywords

  • Humanitarian work
  • artificial intelligence
  • complex systems
  • development
  • machine learning

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