“Towards a European leadership on trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. How to find the right balance between innovation and fundamental rights in the AI Act”. This is the title of the VideoTalk held on September 27 that saw the participation of Mr Brando Benifei, Rapporteur on AI of the IMCO Committee, as guest speaker.
After the introductory remarks, I-Com President Stefano da Empoli, gave the floor to Brando Benifei, for his keynote speech. Finally, after a brief exchange of views among the participants, Mr. da Empoli wrapped up the event and left the concluding remarks to the Rapporteur, before thanking the public for taking part in the VideoTalk.
The event offered a forum where to discuss challenges and perspectives on the new Artificial Intelligence Act proposed last April by the European Commission. On the one hand, the AI Regulation includes a number of provisions intended to promote the development and uptake of AI systems in the European Union (EU). On the other hand, the Commission proposal imposes strict obligations especially on “high-risk AI systems”. The AI Regulation also creates a new governance framework, with a European Artificial Intelligence Board overseeing and coordinating enforcement. In light of this, a particular focus was placed on the need of establishing new proportionate and flexible rules to address the specific risks posed by AI systems and to set the highest standard worldwide.
During the VideoTalk, participants reflected on the following questions. Namely, what are, to date, the critical issues, both from a technical and regulatory point of view, still to be overcome and to encourage the full development of the potential of AI in Europe? Is the European legislation, especially the AI Act, valid and sufficient to resolve the issues related to security, robustness, resilience, privacy and data protection, transparency and accountability, fairness and discrimination, raised by these new technologies? If not, what are the regulatory gaps and what aspects need to be improved? Does the EU have the potential to compete in the global AI race? How can the upcoming AI legislation help Europe reach its potential and what priorities should be pursued? How sizeable would the compliance costs for companies be and what measures should be pursued to minimise them, achieving, at the same time, a trustworthy AI.
