This Policy Brief is offered to the Saudi T20 process, as a recommendation to the G20 in 2020.

In the offline world, we have developed safeguards to ensure that those with intimate knowledge of others do not exploit vulnerabilities and weaknesses of individuals through manipulation. Yet, online data aggregators and their related AI firms, with whom we have no relationship (for instance a contract), have more information about our preferences, concerns, and vulnerabilities than our priests, doctors, lawyers, or therapists. We propose that Governments should extend their existing off-line protections and standards against manipulation to also cover these data controllers which presently have the knowledge and proximity of a very intimate relationship without the governance and trust inherent to such relationships in the off-line market. We also propose several steps to protect citizens’ autonomy and decrease user deception. The ability of ‘data traffickers’ and their AI partners to leverage knowledge they have on almost every person on the Internet makes the scale of the public policy and political challenge worthy of Ministers and Heads of Government.

This Policy Brief is offered to the Saudi T20 process, as a recommendation to the G20 in 2020.

If more progress had been made on the SDGs, the world could better face the COVID-19 pandemic. G20 countries will inevitably focus on short-term response and recovery but should also keep the SDGs as a “North Star” in embarking on the transformation of global economic systems that is now required––both domestically and through action abroad. This policy brief discusses challenges and opportunities for the G20 in advancing the 2030 Agenda. Strong leadership will be needed to keep the longer-term agenda in focus at a time when short-term expediency prevails.