UNESCO and LG AI Research formally launched Empowering Minds: Transforming Lives, a free global massive open online course (MOOC) on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, at the Ethics by Design: Industry and Innovation Conference held at the Korean National Commission for UNESCO premises in Seoul.

Hosted on Coursera and open to learners worldwide, the course was launched in the presence of Prof. Khaled El-Enany, Director-General, UNESCO; Dr. Kyung Hoon Bae, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Science and ICT, Republic of Korea; and Dr. Woohyung Lim, Head of LG AI Research. They were joined by leaders from government, industry, and academia, along with the course's module leads and members of the project's International Advisory Group.

The MOOC is grounded in the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, adopted unanimously by  UNESCO’s 193 Member States in 2021 as the first global normative instrument on AI ethics. Its launch marks a shift in translating UNESCO's ethical principles into practical knowledge and skills for those developing, deploying and governing AI systems. 

Principles alone do not build ethical AI, people do. Through this course, UNESCO is taking the next step in its leadership on AI ethics, translating the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence into practical learning that empowers people to apply ethical principles throughout the AI lifecycle. This is how we move from shared commitments to meaningful action, said, Prof. Khaled El-Enany, Director-General, UNESCO.

The MOOC is designed for technologists, researchers, policymakers, students, and any professional whose work touches AI. It introduces learners to the core principles of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI and equips them to apply an ethics-by-design approach in the systems they build, deploy, or regulate.