US, Japan, UK, Spain and India call for international regulation of AI

Sarah Yanez-Richards

New York, United States, Sept 18 (EFE).- Representatives from the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan and India insisted on Monday on the need to create national and international regulations for artificial intelligence (AI).

During a conference held at the headquarters of the National Library in New York as part of the United Nations Assembly, experts highlighted the benefits AI can bring to the fight against climate change, health and education, but insisted on the importance of promoting ethical, legal and technical frameworks for new technologies.

“Europe represents a third way between two very established models: the American model, where data is owned by big companies, and the Chinese model, where data is owned by the state. instead Europe defends that data must be in the hands of citizens,” the Spanish secretary for digitalization and artificial intelligence, Carme Artigas, told Efe.

The European Union began work on the legalization of AI in 2019 and is already in the “final phase,” according to Artigas.

However, everything changed late last year with the proliferation of generative chatbots like OpenAI and ChatGPT.

“ChatGPT made it clear that this technology has a very high level of acceleration, and it affects all sectors. People have realized that this is not the future, but the present, which has also raised concerns for governments and the industry itself,” said the Spanish representative.

MORAL OBLIGATION

Artigas emphasizes that regulations must go beyond the technical and legal, because “deep down it’s a moral standard.”

“We’re saying that we as citizens want to have a say in what AI can do and what we don’t want it to do, even if it’s technically possible,” she explains.

One of the protections Europe is looking for, according to the expert, is that this technology is not capable of creating a level of surveillance that can determine who is a good citizen or not and deprive them of their rights, something Artigas says is happening with AI in China.

CORPORATE LEGISLATION

Artigas also pointed out that another key point is to ensure that legislation does not “kill innovation.”

All those who participated in the event, stressed the importance of working with leading tech companies, such as Google or Microsoft.

the Spanish official also emphasized that because “people have to trust that AI is safe and doesn’t lie,” companies are very much in favor of countries creating regulation to prevent possible issues.

UNIVERSAL AND IMPARTIAL

Another point on which the speakers agreed is that this technology must reach everyone and be impartial.

However, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly recalled that we are still very far from the first challenge, as 2.7 billion people in the world do not have access to the Internet.

With regard to impartiality, the Deputy Secretary General of the OECD, Urik Knudsen, highlighted that there is a great gender imbalance in AI companies, illustrating his idea by pointing out that although the majority of CEOs of this type of companies are men, the voices of intelligent assistants, such as Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa, are voiced by women. EFE

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