LocationsDigital@UNGA 2025: From Questions to Action—A World Demanding Humane Technology
October 21, 2025
ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin and UNDP Acting Administrator Haoliang Xu
"I was silent until I got connected and my voice came out like a bomb."
This is how a Swiss participant described discovering the World Pulse women's online network. For her, internet connectivity was access to life itself. Her voice, once trapped in isolation, exploded into the global conversation.
But how many voices remain silent, still waiting to be heard?
A Parallel Conversation Unfolds
As world leaders gathered in New York for the 80th United Nations General Assembly, a parallel conversation unfolded about one of the most transformative forces of our time: digital technology.
Digital@UNGA 2025, organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), brought together government officials, technology leaders, civil society, and youth to explore how digital technologies can serve as a force for good. Taking place during UN General Assembly Week, this series of over 45 events responded to a global call to ensure that digital transformation is inclusive, human-centered, and delivers for everyone, everywhere.
Building on the legacy of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and following the adoption of the Global Digital Compact in 2024, Digital@UNGA represented more than just a gathering of experts. It was a platform for listening to the voices that matter most: people around the world who are living through this digital revolution.
will.i.am, musician, tech founder and philanthropist
Listening to the World
Digital inclusion goes to the heart of the UN Development Programme's mission. Here at the UNDP, the UN body that campaigns against poverty and inequality, we see digital inclusion as a tool for mass empowerment across the globe.
To coincide with Digital@UNGA 2025, UNDP and ITU invited citizens from around the world to address global and technology leaders on how technology can be a force for good. And also a force that unites us all.
The questions that emerged from this exercise reveal how people everywhere share a common perspective. Yes, fears of where technology, including AI, will take humanity are evident. But hopes are on display as well, and the question of how we shape the direction of the planet in the interests of succeeding generations.
These weren't rhetorical questions. They demanded answers. And leaders from all sectors at Digital@UNGA, including government, international organizations, civil society, and media, stepped forward to provide them.
Common Hopes, Shared Concerns
The questions posed by this diverse mix of genders and nationalities - across 110 video submissions - shine a spotlight on where humanity wants technology to go. From 31 voices in Africa, 25 from the Americas, 4 from the Arab States, 29 across Asia and the Pacific, 3 from the CIS, and 18 from Europe, a common belief emerges: technology must not leave societies and vulnerable communities behind. Can the powerful forces of AI, often seen as a threat, become instead a force for inclusion and opportunity?
Together UNDP and ITU brought these questions to world leaders during UNGA. Here are some of their answers.
From Pakistan: High-end technologies and data centers significantly increase carbon emissions. What measures are being considered to "green" the digital future?
Watch the response from Dirk Messner, President of the German Environment Agency
From Colombia: What initiatives ensure young people from rural areas aren't excluded from technology access and can participate equally in digital society?
Watch the response from Kelly T. Clemens, Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR
From India: What has been done to eliminate the digital divide across the globe toward equality?
Watch the response from Liberto Bautista, President of CoNGO
From Mexico: How do I know if what I read or watch online is real or fake?
Watch the response from Prajakta Koli, Youth Climate Champion, UNDP India
From Benin: What skills will be most valuable in the next 20-30 years—creativity, coding, empathy, or something we cannot yet name?
Watch the response from will.i.am, musician, tech founder and philanthropist
The Questions That Continue to Resonate
These five responses represent the beginning of a sustained conversation. Many other questions continue to echo:
From Vietnam: "AI is an unnatural component but will do so many things." Hope sits alongside anxiety about whether this powerful technology can truly serve human needs.
From Germany: Can international agreements establish red lines around AI before it behaves unacceptably?
From Nigeria: How do we protect data security as quantum computing threatens existing encryption—and the trust that underpins all digital public services?
From the Netherlands: How do we protect young people from social media's role in amplifying misinformation?
From Belgium and France: How do we ensure equal access to education and professional opportunities for women?
From Iran: How can digital technology help maintain family values and cultural heritage? Progress without identity is just displacement.
The Dialogue Continues
Digital@UNGA 2025 was an opening, not an endpoint. That's why the conversation continues at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) High-Level Meeting in December, which will review the past 20 years of achievements under WSIS and identify a path forward. There global leaders, technologists, and civil society will reconvene to address more questions, share progress on commitments made, and translate digital possibilities into human realities. UNDP and ITU will continue to bring questions from around the world to ensure that the hopes, concerns, and questions are heard—and answered—by world leaders.
A Message of Responsibility
What unites these voices across continents is a determination that technology must promote an ethical world, distributing knowledge and opportunity equally across the globe. Perhaps most telling is what appears again and again: a profound sense of responsibility to future generations. The questions aren't about maximizing profit or racing to dominance. They're about building a digital world worthy of inheriting. Technology is just a tool. Humanity is what matters. This is the message people want us to hear.
Check out also ITU's blog Nine questions about the digital future – answered for additional questions and answers gathered through the Digit’all Voices campaign.
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