FAO & ITU launch “Robotics for Good – Youth Challenge 2025-2026” to tackle global food insecurity | FAO News

Geneva/Rome – At the opening of the AI for Good Summit (8-11 July)  in Geneva today, the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) & the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) officially launched the Robotics for Good – Youth Challenge 2025–26, a global initiative aimed at empowering youth to drive innovation in agrifood systems.

The second edition of this initiative invites young people aged 12 to 18 from around the world to design & build robots that help address one of humanity’s most pressing challenges – food insecurity.

“This challenge is not just about robotics,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu during his keynote address at the summit. “It is about empowering youth to become agents of change in the fight against hunger.”

FAO will serve as a strategic partner in the initiative, providing technical guidance, mentorship, & support through its Youth Innovation Lab & Transformative Research models.

Digital divide

In his address, the Director-General also highlighted the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in advancing food security & building climate‑resilient agriculture.

Qu presented FAO’s vision for inclusive & ethical AI in agrifood systems, designed to empower farmers & rural communities, particularly in low-income countries.  

“The digital divide is becoming development divide,” Qu said. “If we allow these gaps to persist, the promises of artificial intelligence to reduce poverty, improve resilience & drive innovation will remain out of reach for those who need it most.”

According to the ITU, 1 in 3 people worldwide remains offline, most of them in rural & low-income countries. Nearly 2.6 billion people still lack access to the Internet, & only 26 percent of people in low-income countries use it at all. According to the World Bank, fewer than 1 in 5 people in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to broadband, limiting not only connectivity, but also the capacity to participate in the digital & AI revolutions.

Leveraging the power of AI in agrifood systems

The Director-General outlined how FAO is harnessing digital tools to close the connectivity gap & drive transformation across global agrifood systems—from precision agriculture & resource management to food security early warning systems & market access.

FAO’s approach focuses on ensuring that AI technologies benefit those who need them most. This includes new AI-powered advisory services tailored to smallholder farmers & delivered in local languages, made possible through partnerships such as with Digital Green. Through generative AI, FAO has already reduced the cost of farmer advisory services from 30 dollars to just 3 dollars per farmer, with further reductions anticipated.

Through FAO’s advanced remote sensing & geospatial platforms, AI allows the Organization to rapidly analyze drought, water stress, crop types, land use & forest management. FAO is also leveraging open-source Big Data to track food security threats before they become crises. Predictive models help farmers make better-informed decisions about sowing, harvesting, & marketing their crops.

Among its flagship innovations, the Organization is piloting a specialized “knowledge bot” built on its extensive repository of nearly 150,000 scientific publications, & working on the world’s first agrifood-focused foundation AI model to provide tailored, context-specific solutions from planting to post-harvest.

As a founding member of the Digital Public Goods Alliance & a signatory to the Rome Call for AI Ethics, FAO continues to champion digital solutions that are guided by transparency, human dignity, & the principle to “do no harm.”

The Director General re-affirmed that responsible governance of AI is essential to delivering the Organization’s Four Betters: Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment, & a Better Life—leaving no one behind.

Qu called on all partners to work together to ensure that AI is inclusive, transparent & human-centered, addressing global challenges while accelerating progress across agrifood systems.

Organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in partnership with over 40 UN sister agencies & co‑convened by the Government of Switzerland, the Summit brings together policymakers, researchers, industry leaders, startups, civil society, & other stakeholders to harness AI’s potential in solving global challenges.