Future-Proofing Disruptive Technologies: Policy Options for the Ethical Governance of AI and Emerging Technologies

Joint event of the EU Projects SIENNA, SHERPA and PANELFIT in collaboration with STOA.

Overview of the Event

This event takes its point of departure from the current discussion and legislative agenda of AI and asks the question which issues and challenges of AI are in need of particular attention, how can they be addressed and how can we build on what was learned during the AI discourse to prepare for the next wave of scientific and technological advances, such as those expected for quantum computing, to ensure these are beneficial and their risks are addressed early.

Background

The three EU projects SIENNA (https://www.sienna-project.eu/), SHERPA (https://www.project-sherpa.eu/) and PANELFIT represent a €10m investment in research from the European Commission to develop governance structures that are sensitive to ethical and human rights concerns of emerging technologies, notably including artificial intelligence (AI) and big data.

This event, organized and hosted in collaboration with the European Parliament’s Science and Technology Options Assessment panel (STOA), builds on the work undertaken in the three projects and is meant to stimulate high-level policy-related debate around questions concerning new and emerging disruptive technologies. The common goal is to ensure that technology advancement has a beneficial impact on society and that related risks are addressed early.

The event will be moderated by Science journalist and broadcaster Vivienne Parry and will include keynote speeches from the EC’s Mariya Gabriel and Despina Spanou, as well as the University of Montreal’s renowned AI expert Yoshua Bengio.