by The rise of artificial intelligence and its increasing presence in our daily lives has sparked a great deal of debate.
Among them, the question of its governance has become one of the most pressing issues of our time, with Brussels at the forefront of the race to regulate AI with its flagship AI Law.
However, regulation is not without obstacles, and the solutions will surely determine the future of technology and European citizens alike.
At this year’s International Summit on Artificial Intelligence, hosted by Euronews in Brussels on November 8, eurovisions I talk to Jeremy RollisonHead of EU Policy and European Government Affairs at Microsoft Europe, on many of the issues surrounding European and global regulatory cooperation, and what it will mean in practice.
Euroviews: At the 2018 Brussels Technology Forum, you named AI as one of the two emerging technologies that will have the greatest impact on people and their relationship with technology. How much more is to come?
Jeremy Rollison: At Microsoft we have been working on AI for decades. It is already integrated into many of our products and our customers use it every day.
But this year we saw AI accelerate more than ever and become popular with the advent of large language models and generative AI. Technology augments human capabilities and is changing everything about the way we live, work and learn.
We are seeing AI help research new medicines, find solutions to accelerate decarbonizing power grids, and improve cybersecurity.
We also see that technology drives economic growth by supporting the development of new products and services.
So we really see AI as playing a key role in helping to address some of society’s most pressing challenges.
Euroviews: You often have the opportunity to talk to decision-makers about the various challenges they encounter in AI regulation. Could you share with us some of the key findings on what can be done and what needs to be done to ensure future-proof regulation, especially in the EU?
Jeremy Rollison: There is a balance to be struck between supporting Europe’s ability to innovate while ensuring that the rights and values of Europeans are protected.
Legislation is needed to strike the right balance. As AI technology continues to evolve apace, continued dialogue between businesses, governments, businesses, civil society and academia is important.
AI governance frameworks must advance at the same pace as technological innovation, and we need diverse voices around the table to make this happen.
This is how we minimize risk and maximize opportunities, allowing people to use technology safely and generating benefits for all of society.
Ultimately, this is about promoting responsible innovation of a technology that we believe will lead to enormous economic growth in Europe and beyond.
Euroviews: There has been a lot of talk about preparing for the future. Can we really look that far into the future?
Jeremy Rollison: We should certainly look forward. The EU has ambitious plans: take, for example, the Digital Decade goals and the European Green Deal.
AI will play a key role in delivering this transformation, including accelerating the deployment of sustainability solutions and developing new ones – faster, cheaper and better.
A great example is the Belgian startup BeeOdiversity, which developed an artificial intelligence-based system used by farmers to measure environmental impact and better protect biodiversity.
The important thing is to ensure that there are frameworks in place to address potential emerging risks. The pace of innovation is moving very quickly and we need security disruptions built into AI systems by design.
We also need frameworks that allow us to respond quickly to emerging challenges, while ensuring that the AI ecosystem can thrive and that businesses in Europe can adopt the technology at scale.
Euroviews: In the past, you have advocated for Data for All, making data available to everyone and not just a few, whether governments or companies, particularly in the context of AI development. How important is this data access for AI and why?
Jeremy Rollison: Data plays a key role in the responsible advancement of AI technology.
The value an organization will derive from AI is largely determined by the quality of its data, as well as how well it is governed. Data drives algorithms and allows them to learn and make predictions.
Responsible data policies and practices for both the inputs and outputs of AI models and applications enable you to leverage AI while protecting user privacy and security.
The growth of AI makes access to data and large language models more critical than ever. AI models can perform a wide variety of tasks using natural language, from writing the first draft of a presentation to writing computer code.
Furthermore, AI’s ability to process large data sets and provide insights can be crucial to making progress on key societal challenges, for example accelerating progress on climate action.
Artificial intelligence technologies can be used to analyze energy consumption patterns and optimize the use of renewable energy sources or assist in the efficient management of natural resources and suggest conservation strategies.
Euroviews: What would be ways to alleviate the concerns of legislators but also of citizens when they hear the words “free access to data”? What can be done to ensure that their personal data is secure and will remain private?
Jeremy Rollison: People will only use technology they trust. We believe that customer data is yours and yours alone.
Data processed by AI products is also subject to the GDPR, as well as our customers’ commitments on data privacy and security that often exceed the EU’s strict data privacy laws.
Organizations large and small are implementing AI solutions because they can achieve more at scale, more easily, with the right, responsible, enterprise-level AI protections.
Customers can trust that the AI applications they deploy on our platforms meet the legal and regulatory requirements for responsible AI and that we keep their data secure.
Our mission is to empower customers to achieve more and enable them to drive their own innovation. Your success is our success.
