Publications & Documents

AI and emerging technologies offer tremendous opportunities for well-being, productivity, growth and solving pressing societal challenges. However, they also pose risks to human rights, fairness and human agency, among others. Many countries recognise the need to develop forward-looking policies and adapt governance frameworks to keep pace with these developments and to leverage technological benefits while mitigating risks. This paper builds on the OECD’s extensive work on AI, data governance and connectivity to support policy makers in this process. It highlights the importance of co-operating internationally to ensure that emerging technologies are trustworthy and calls for building a common understanding of AI and emerging technologies, sharing good practices and creating the evidence base to inform policy design, implementation and evaluation.

Digital transformation affects every aspect of our lives, providing new spaces and tools for us to connect, work, consume, and enjoy our rights. It offers a multitude of social and economic opportunities, but also brings new and complex risks. An empowering and safe digital environment that puts people first is therefore a core policy goal of the digital age. Through the lens of a fictional family navigating these opportunities and risks, this paper looks at how digital transformation impacts us as individuals, be it as citizens, consumers, or workers. It outlines the policy landscape, and describes the international, multi-stakeholder, and nuanced efforts needed to strike a balance between different rights, interests, and values. A background paper for the 2022 Digital Economy Ministerial meeting, this paper supports senior policy makers in designing and achieving a human-centric digital transformation.

This report represents the second outcome of the collaboration between the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to improve the measurement and analysis of productivity developments across APO and OECD member economies. The report discusses the potential impact of COVID-19 on productivity and examines the role of Multifactor Productivity (MFP) as a major driver of economic growth and changes in living standards. It then identifies the most important factors influencing MFP growth and describes the most important challenges affecting the measurement of each of these factors as well as the estimation of their impact on MFP. The report provides key recommendations to improve the reliability and interpretation of the empirical evidence for economic analysis.

For decades, governments have relied on space systems for intelligence gathering and satellite connectivity in remote areas, but today’s situation marks a distinct break with the past. Extended coverage, advances in digital technologies and, importantly, free and/or commercial availability of space products allow many new uses by both government and non-government actors. This brings important benefits for users and citizens, but also leads to new challenges in terms of data management, infrastructure and supply chain resilience, and international co-operation. This paper uses illustrations from the war in Ukraine to highlight recent developments in the sector, placing them in a broader context of digitalisation and government space investments. It discusses the growing importance of space technologies for society and provides policy options and resources from other strains of OECD work.

This is the third benchmarking report tracking the evolution of online content-sharing services’ policies and procedures for terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC). Fifteen of the top 50 most popular services now issue TVEC-specific transparency reports, increasing from five in 2020 and eleven in 2021. This edition also examines the 50 services that disseminate the most TVEC ('Intensive Services'). Only eleven services appear in both groups, reflecting that bad actors are shifting to smaller services as the larger ones strengthen TVEC moderation. Only eight Intensive Services currently issue TVEC-specific transparency reports, thirteen have no prohibition on TVEC and seventeen provide no information at all. The findings also suggest that services size and encryption are not insurmountable barriers to transparency reporting. It remains difficult to obtain an industry-wide perspective on the impact of companies’ measures against TVEC. Finally, regulatory fragmentation is worsening as more jurisdictions are implementing disparate transparency requirements. Previous benchmarking reports: 'Transparency reporting on terrorist and violent extremist content online: An update on the global top 50 content sharing' (2021); 'Current approaches to terrorist and violent extremist content among the global top 50 online content-sharing services' (2020).

The communication sector is undergoing high-paced developments driven by the digital transformation of our economies and societies. Technological convergence has led to an evolving competitive landscape and new challenges arise around privacy and security concerns. Communication regulators are increasingly acknowledging the positive and negative effects of communication infrastructures and services on the environment. Moreover, there is a growing need to ensure the resilience of networks, stemming partially from the effects of climate change. In consequence, the key question for OECD policymakers is no longer whether regulatory structures need to change, but rather how. This report explores the critical role communication regulators play in an increasingly connected society. It identifies the challenges stemming from the digital transformation of our societies, the main policy objectives pursued by communication regulators, measures to address current and future challenges, as well as the importance of strengthening the capabilities of communication regulators of the future.