Understanding AI’s Global Impact: Governance, Equity, and Responsibility

AI is reshaping governments, enterprises, and international institutions—yet most AI courses focus on technical implementation or individual productivity tools. This course takes a different approach, examining AI through the lens of the United Nations system and global public institutions.

In clear, non-technical language, it explores core AI concepts and connects them to real issues: inequality, data concentration, the digital divide, and global governance. Along the way, you’ll develop a structured understanding of what AI is, what it can and can’t do, and how debates around fairness and governance influence decisions in organizations around the world.

This course features Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of United Nations University and UN Under-Secretary-General, Tshilidzi is a globally recognized AI scholar who has applied AI across engineering, medicine, economics, governance, and social systems.

Learning objectives
Define in clear terms what AI is, how it works at a high level, and where its limitations lie.
Describe how AI interacts with global challenges such as inequality, data concentration and the digital divide.
Identify key global stakeholders in AI governance and understand how their roles intersect.
Recognize opportunities and risks that AI creates for governments, enterprises and society.
Reflect on how AI-related governance trends affect their organisation and identify opportunities for responsible and effective use.