ELF/Zavod 14 Policy paper on regulation of Artificial Intelligence: How to regulate AI? – Towards Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (388 KB)
Authors: Aljaž Košmerlj, Ivan Bratko, Janek Musek, Kasia Söderlund, Aleks Jakulin, Nina Pejič
Editor: Gregor Plantarič
Supported by European Liberal Forum (ELF).
Year: 2019
Humans today have embraced the comfort of modern technology without really understanding how it works and the abnormal potential of the data accumulation that our devices have. These devices know exactly who we are, where we are, and what we are doing (besides thousands of other things). They achieve this with the help of many sensors and data input vectors controlled by Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, or rather “smart” algorithms running in the background. These sometimes simple but mostly increasingly complex algorithms can, in a split second, find, sort, define, control and act on a multitude of data to help us with our day-to-day tasks. Otherwise today people would probably be lost in the profusion of information.
Since AI systems (respectively algorithms) are increasingly affecting our lives there has been a tendency for legal certainty; on how to regulate them? The regulatory challenges significantly exceed those imposed on autonomous driving or finance, to name just a couple, not forgetting that we are dealing with a distinctly interdisciplinary question. Hence the increasing number of legal and other experts and scholars who are addressing this issue. The regulation of AI or more specific algorithms is only a part of a broader interdisciplinary field of regulation of emerging technologies (nanotechnology, biotechnology, autonomous machines, robotics etc.), but this will prove to act as a signpost and cornerstone for our future regulation of emerging technologies. Allowing algorithms to control our life is often compared to opening Pandora’s box. That’s why it is of the utmost importance that our next moves are very well thought out, since further developments in this field can only be expected to be exponential.
AI systems are currently quite simple tools, designed to perform (with “superhuman”
efficiency) certain (narrow) tasks (e.g. examine data) – which is quite different from broader and deeper AI systems, which are commonly presented as science fiction. But AI does not come without serious risks and it does have a significant impact on our lives, so from a liberal perspective it must be ensured that the development and use of AI is in accordance with our values, human rights, ethical principles and “security mindset”; and that will most probably be achieved by a mixed set of legal rules in order not to hold back future progress.
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ELF/Zavod 14 Policy paper on regulation of Artificial Intelligence: How to regulate AI? – Towards Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (388 KB)
Connected events: Workshop with roundtable: “Coexist with AI – Vision of the Society 5.0″
Ljubljana, November 23, 2019 – The main conclusion of the participants in the International Workshop and Roundtable Coexistence with Artificial Intelligence: Vision of Society 5.0, organized by the Institute 14 and the European Liberal Forum (ELF). The event took place at the Polygon in Ljubljana on November 21.