You Can’t Regulate AI Without Fully Understanding It - UNU | United Nations University

UNU Rector Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala spoke with Geneva Solutions on the sidelines of the United Nations Global Dialogue on AI Governance. 

The interview explores a mix of topics including key takeaways from the Dialogue, recent high-profile UNU research on the environmental costs of AI, how AI will shape the future of education and, centrally, how AI-related literacy, education and governance overlap.

"We do not need to turn policymakers into engineers. Still, they need the fluency to ask the right questions, to recognise when a company’s claims don’t hold up, and to understand values like transparency, fairness, and accountability well enough to write them into law in a way that’s actually enforceable. Changing behaviour, whether we’re talking about legislators, companies, or the public, has to be built on that kind of understanding. You can’t regulate, or responsibly use, what you don’t fully understand

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"Universities have always liked to present themselves as stable, enduring institutions, somewhat immune to wider trends. AI is a reminder of how fragile that self-image actually is. If AI can do the analytical work students used to be tested on, we have to rethink not just how we teach, but what we're actually assessing and why."