Written by Philip Boucher.
Updated on 3.8.2021.
STOA’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence (C4AI) produces studies, organises public events and acts as a platform for dialogue and information exchange on AI-relevant topics within the Parliament and beyond. It aims to contribute to the quality and coherence of discussion and policy-making as the EU seeks to coordinate its efforts and influence global AI standard-setting.
Last year, STOA and the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) launched a partnership on artificial intelligence (AI) with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Parliamentary Network (GPN). The GPN is a hub for legislators and officials from parliaments around the world to share experience, identify good practices and foster international legislative cooperation. It includes a Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence, and benefits from proximity with the OECD’s AI Policy Observatory and Global Partnership on AI.
In the context of this partnership, STOA has produced a series of podcasts examining various aspects of AI development and policy with key experts from the field.
The first podcast in the series explores the role of international cooperation in AI governance. It includes an extensive conversation between STOA Chair Eva Kaili (S&D, Greece) and Anthony Gooch, Director of Public Affairs & Communications at OECD and Chair of the GPN, on the importance of international cooperation on AI and the role parliaments can play in this respect in the context of the Covid‑19 pandemic, also as a way of promoting human autonomy and empowerment in relation to AI. There are also contributions from Jeremias Prassl, Deputy Director of the Institute of European and Comparative Law, University of Oxford, who shares his perspectives on best practices and capacity building in AI governance, and Kate Crawford, AI scholar and author of the book ‘The Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence’, who talks about multilateral initiatives and the distribution of costs and benefits of AI. You can listen to the podcast here.
For the second podcast, STOA and the OECD focused on innovation, regulation and the role of citizens. It includes contributions of STOA Panel Members Lina Gálvez (S&D, Spain) and Deirdre Clune (EPP, Ireland), as well as Andrea Renda, Senior Research Fellow and Head of Global Governance, Regulation, Innovation and the Digital Economy at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). They discuss how and why governments can play a role in defining the rules of cyberspace, both to protect fundamental rights and to enable innovations to be rolled out across the European single market. The discussion then turns to digital skills and literacy, and how to ensure that citizens are empowered to make the most of AI systems while safeguarding their digital rights. This podcast can be accessed here.
The third and final podcast is oriented towards AI ethics, in particular how to move from principles to practice. This podcast features STOA Panel Member Anna‑Michelle Asimakopoulou (EPP, Greece) and Lorena Jaume‑Palasi, founder of the Ethical Society and member of the STOA International Advisory Board. The podcast opens with a discussion of the proliferation of ethical principles in recent years, and the various implications that their overlaps could have upon regulation. It then turns to the complexity of AI in domains such as automated transport and recruitment tools, and how their associated challenges, notably accountability and non-discrimination, might make it necessary to develop specific rules for the technology. The conversation also explores how our philosophical priorities, such as objective rationality and individualism, also play a role in AI development and regulation. You can listen to this podcast here.
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