TEMPLATE for Letter to Governments about AI

(This template was developed and presented at BPW's Asia Pacific Conference August 2025)

Letter on Artificial Intelligence for governments

BPW affiliates, please feel welcome to adopt this letter for your context.

Ngā mihi nui/thank you, BPW New Zealand

Greetings

This week, over 200 members of Business and Professional Women (BPW) Asia

Pacific Region met in Kuala Lumpur to discuss barriers to the empowerment of

women and girls in our countries.

As part of the event, a Young BPW symposium featured the topic ‘Will AI Shape Our

Morality, or Should Morality Shape Our AI?’ This powerful presentation from our Young BPW members in the computer science and STEM sectors in Nepal, Thailand and Korea highlighted the importance of morality driven artificial intelligence, particularly in the education of children and ensuring the protection of cultural identities.

Research has highlighted that children are influenced in their decision making by

erroneous robot input and have been guided by AI to hide unhealthy eating habits.

AI is already influencing our children.

We urge the government to adopt the UNICEF Nine Child-Centered AI guidelines.

At our St Kitts & Nevis Congress in 2024, BPW International passed a resolution on

Online Harm:

“That BPW International and its Affiliates advocate that governments legislate with

urgency for:

a. stronger regulation of online platforms, including introducing global

standards for social media reform to ensure effectiveness, connectedness

and consistency (e.g. the Center for Countering Digital Hate’s STAR

Framework);

b. improved transparency requirements, human rights protections and

independent oversight around the algorithms, advertising, and rules

enforcement for online platforms;

c. rigorous government content filtering systems particularly for child abuse

sexual material, with independent accountability mechanisms;

d. requiring internet service providers to filter with rigour illegal content, with

independent accountability mechanisms;

e. strong civil and criminal penalties for people and organisations who

commit online harm;

f. strong civil and criminal penalties for online platforms that fail to create

safe spaces and/or respond adequately when harm occurs;

g. improved national-level data gathering and reporting on online harm with a

socio-demographic lens; and

h. more investment in education around online harm that considers how to

communicate effectively with target audiences such as young people,

other vulnerable groups and potential perpetrators. “

We urge the government to adopt these into policy and further, also adopt the

UNESCO four core values for Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. Thank you for

considering this important issue.

Thank you,