United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 10 June 2022 the appointment of Amandeep Singh Gill of India as his Envoy on Technology. The Secretary-General wishes to extend his appreciation and gratitude to the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, Ms. Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, for her dedication and commitment as Acting Envoy on Technology.
Mr. Gill is the Chief Executive Officer of the International Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) project, based at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.
A thought leader on digital technology, he brings to the position a deep knowledge of digital technologies coupled with a solid understanding of how to leverage the digital transformation responsibly and inclusively for progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Previously, he was the Executive Director and Co-Lead of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation (2018-2019). In addition to delivering the report of the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, Mr. Gill helped secure high-impact international consensus recommendations on regulating Artificial Intelligence (Al) in lethal autonomous weapon systems in 2017 and 2018, the draft Al ethics recommendation of UNESCO in 2020, and a new international platform on digital health and Al.
Mr. Gill was India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva (2016-2018). He joined his country’s Diplomatic Service in 1992 and served in various capacities in disarmament and strategic technologies and international security affairs, with postings in Tehran and Colombo. He was also a visiting scholar at Stanford University.
Mr. Gill holds a PhD in Nuclear Learning in Multilateral Forums from King’s College, London, a Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Electrical Communications from Panjab University, Chandigarh and an Advanced Diploma in French History and Language from Geneva University. He is fluent in English, French, Hindi and Punjabi.
