UNA-USA Youth Affinity Group Publishes AI for the SDGs Paper
After months of dialogue and research through 14 youth-led Conversation Circles, the UNA-USA Youth Affinity Group is proud to announce the publication of its new paper, AI For SDGs: A Thematic Synthesis Aligning Artificial Intelligence With The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals For An Equitable Digital Future.
Led by UNA-USA Youth Affinity Group Co-Chair, Rakib Anam, this milestone builds on the group’s ongoing AI for SDGs Campaign – a 17-week initiative exploring how Artificial Intelligence (AI) impacts all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Participants in these sessions earned a professional Certificate of Completion from UNA-USA for their contributions toward the forthcoming AI for SDGs white paper.
The newly released paper examines how AI both advances and threatens progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Drawing on insights from youth leaders, experts, and civil society actors – alongside thematic analysis and desk research – the study identifies eight cross-cutting themes that capture AI’s double-edged impact.
Four themes highlight AI’s potential to accelerate progress – process efficiency, access to health and education, environmental resilience, and governance innovation – while four underscore its risks – bias and discrimination, labor displacement, environmental costs, and data colonialism. Through real-world examples, the paper reveals how AI can both bridge and widen global development gaps, depending on how technologies are designed, deployed, and governed.
By centering youth voices often missing from policy discourse, AI for the SDGs calls for ethical, inclusive, and sustainable approaches to AI that advance equity and resilience for all.
🎧 Listen to the Conversation Circles that inspired this study: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVBge3mwz_RBdYqsfggLP8xDnKaTT6ZmP&si=3B-lZQQj3ZfR5kA5
📄 Read the full paper: AI For SDGs: A Thematic Synthesis Aligning Artificial Intelligence With The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals For An Equitable Digital Future
