The Economics of AI: Balancing Innovation and Equity
Join Rest of World and Chemonics for a live event during UNGA Week to explore how AI is transforming the global economy and the ways we can balance rapid innovation with equitable growth and opportunity.
AI is quickly reshaping the global balance of power, with the U.S. and China dominating the computing power, talent, investment, and infrastructure that underpin the technology. Yet only a handful of other countries are positioned to capture significant economic gains.
This event brings industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators from across sectors to explore how AI is changing the relationship between labor and capital, what fair compensation looks like in an AI economy, and which policies and business models are needed to ensure workers and communities share in the wealth AI creates rather than paying the price for its disruption.
Space is limited, so please Request to Join as soon as possible. We'll do our best to accommodate all guests.
Agenda
3:00PM – 3:30PM: Guest Arrival and Registration
3:30PM – 3:40PM: Welcome and Opening Remarks
Emily Tracy, Chief Development Officer, Rest of World
Christine Glancey, Executive Editor, Rest of World
3:40PM – 4:40PM: Panel: AI: Who benefits? Who pays?
The rapid development of AI offers potentially huge benefits, but also poses big risks. While the wealth it creates is highly concentrated in a few countries and organizations, the negative impacts are unevenly distributed across populations and regions. Who decides who bears the risks, and who benefits from AI? How do we distribute the rewards more equitably and mitigate risks such as labor displacement?
Moderator: Rina Chandran, Deputy Editor, Rest of World
Speakers: Amba Kak, Co-Executive Director, AI Now Institute
Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, Founder and CEO, Humane Intelligence
Wafa Ben-Hassine, Chief, Digital Technologies and Human Rights Section, UN Human Rights Office
4:40PM – 4:50PM: Break
4:50PM – 5:15PM: In Conversation with Windfall Trust
AI is fueling an unprecedented transformation of the economy. How must governments plan for the disruptions from AI to workers, to the economy? How should workers prepare? How do we distribute AI’s benefits more equitably? Economists, lawmakers, CEOs and union leaders are grappling with these questions. No one has the answers yet, but some organizations are working on roadmaps that could throw up some solutions.
Moderator: Rina Chandran, Deputy Editor, Rest of World
Speaker: Anna Yelizarova, Co-Founder, Windfall Trust
5:15PM – 5:50PM: Beyond the Breakthrough: How to Use AI to Deliver Real Progress
AI is driving one of the fastest waves of innovation in history. But history shows that breakthrough technologies create value not when they are invented, but when they are adopted, trusted, and integrated into how people and organizations work.
As AI makes expertise and knowledge more accessible, what separates the winners from everyone else? Will the gains go to the companies building the next breakthrough, or to the organizations that successfully turn innovation into real-world outcomes? Could it create opportunities for businesses, communities, and even entire economies to leapfrog traditional constraints and compete in new ways?
Jamey Butcher, Chair and CEO, Chemonics International
Gordon Saft, Publisher, Rest of World
5:50PM – 6:00PM: Closing Remarks
Gordon Saft, Publisher, Rest of World
6:00PM – 7:00PM: Reception
Speakers