AI & PEACEMAKING

Complementing other efforts to address the challenges of systematically involving public voices in the specifics of peace negotiations, we are exploring the use of AI for mediators and actors to hold real-time 1-on-1 consultations with a large group of individuals in local dialects and languages, allowing for real-time analyses and segmentation based on demographic interests.

In 2020, for instance, the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Yemen (OSESGY) conducted the first-ever AI-assisted, large-scale virtual consultation with Yemeni citizens on the opportunities and challenges of the ongoing peace process. During the live, interactive online dialogue in Yemeni Arabic dialect, over 500 Yemeni participants, a third of them women, expressed their thoughts on the prospect of a nationwide ceasefire, the future of the peace process, and key humanitarian and economic measures needed to alleviate humanitarian suffering in Yemen including the country’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak.