The selection process was intense and competitive, attracting over 2,600 candidates from 140 countries. Of these, only 40 people were selected for the final panel, with Professor Rokach being the only representative from Israel.
Professor Daniel Chamowicz, Rector of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, said: “Professor Lior Lokash’s appointment to the United Nations’ Independent International AI Panel reflects his scientific leadership as one of the most cited researchers in his field and the excellence of the University’s Stein School of Computer and Information Sciences.
Founded this year, the Stein School of Computer and Information Sciences focuses on research and education in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), and computer science. What is unique is that the faculty is not divided into faculties, but instead consists of five research institutes: the Artificial Intelligence Foundation Research Institute, the Applied AI Research Institute, the Computer Theory Research Institute, the Interdisciplinary Computational Science Research Institute, and the Software System Security Research Institute.
Professor Rokach joins a distinguished group of internationally renowned figures, including Professor Joshua Bengio, one of the “fathers of deep learning” and Turing Award winner, and Professor Maria Ressa, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in combating disinformation and online manipulation through AI.
The panel’s mission is to provide evidence-based, scientific assessments of the opportunities, risks, and societal impacts of artificial intelligence in non-military sectors. It aims to act as a global ‘early warning system’, identifying new developments, assessing emerging risks and providing timely, rigorous and unbiased scientific insights to help international decision makers distinguish between scientific reality and marketing hype. The panel provides access to information on AI for all countries around the world and connects research and policy through its annual position paper.
