The Ethics of 'Information as Aid’: AI, Security, and Innovation in Crisis Regions

Profile image of Sara Wahedi
Wednesday, 22 January 2025 @ 12:30pm

Abstract: As AI becomes an inevitable force reshaping the world, its impacts will disproportionately affect the Global South, where vulnerabilities like conflict, economic fragility, and authoritarianism persist. Sara Wahedi, CEO of Civaam and founder of the Ehtesab App, will explore the deployment of AI in crisis regions, drawing on U.S. military efforts to use AI for predicting insurgent attacks in Afghanistan starting in 2018. Wahedi will discuss the profound risks and opportunities AI presents for fragile states, emphasising the importance of ethical safeguards, locally driven innovation, and human oversight in mitigating automation bias and ensuring AI systems serve as tools for empowerment rather than exploitation.

Registration Required

About the presenter: Sara Wahedi is the CEO of Civaam and the founder of Ehtesab, Afghanistan’s first civic-technology startup. Ehtesab’s flagship platform enabled communities to report and receive alerts on security incidents across Afghanistan. As a technologist and advisor, Wahedi consults with private companies, governments, UN agencies, and NGOs on civic technology and human-centered design. She advocates for the protection of the fundamental human right to 'access to information,' particularly in crisis regions, and collaborates with institutions to advance equitable access to information and technology. Wahedi interned with Apple’s AIML division in 2022 and 2023. Her work has been recognized by TIME Magazine, MIT Technology Review, and Forbes, among others. In 2023, she was named One Young World's Entrepreneur of the Year. Currently, Wahedi is a Clarendon scholar at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, where she focuses on the intersection of governance and citizen engagement, with an emphasis on leveraging technology for accountability mechanisms. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies with a concentration in Architecture and a minor in Data Science from Columbia University.