The field of artificial intelligence (AI) has seen significant advances over the past few years, in areas such as autonomous vehicles and smart buildings, medical robots, communications, and intelligent education systems.
For example, several companies are working towards enabling self-driving cars, new automatic translation tools are being developed, and researchers are proposing AI-based technologies for various purposes such as detection of abusive domain names at the time of registration.
Internet companies are also increasingly developing AI tools to respond to different needs. Jigsaw, a Google initiated start up, has been working on Conversation AI, a tool aimed to automatically detect hate speech and other forms of verbal abuse and harassment online. Facebook has built an AI program, called DeepText, that could help catch spam and other unwanted messages, and is using AI to combat the spreading of terrorism content via its network.
These and other similar advances are expected to have implications in several policy areas (economic, societal, education, etc), and governments, the technical community, and private sector actors worldwide are increasingly considering them.
On this page: Policy implications | Governmental initiatives | International processes | AI applications | Research
The policy implications of AI are far‐reaching. While AI can potentially lead to economic growth, there are growing concerns over the significant disruptions it could bring to the labour market. Issues related to privacy, safety, and security have also been brought into focus, with calls being made for the development of standards that can help ensure that AI applications have minimum unintended consequences.
Al has significant potential to lead to economic growth. Used in production processes, AI systems bring automation, making processes smarter, faster, and cheaper, and therefore bringing savings and increased efficiency. AI can improve the efficiency and quality of existing products and services, and also generate new ones, thus leading to the creation of new markets. For this potential to be fully explored, there is a need to ensure that the economic benefits of AI are broadly shared at the level of the society, and that possible negative implications are adequately addressed.
One such possible implication is related to the disruptions that AI systems could bring on the labour market. Concerns are raised that automated systems will make some jobs obsolete, and lead to unemployment. Such concerns have led to discussions about the introduction of a 'universal basic income' that would compensate individuals for disruptions brought on the labour market by robots and other AI systems.
There are, however, also opposing views, according to which AI advancements will generate new jobs, which will compensate for those lost, without affecting the overall employment rates. One point on which there is broad agreement is the need to better adapt the education and training systems to the new requirements on the jobs market. It is also often underlined that adapting the work force to the AI requirements does not mean only preparing the new generations, but also allowing the current work force to re-skill and up-skill itself.
Developments
29 March 2018: G7 employment and innovation ministers discuss ways to prepare for jobs of the future
20 February 2018: Employees are cautiously optimistic about AI, survey finds
8 November 2017: Taxing robots will not protect jobs, report says
20 October 2017: Uk businesses call for a joint commission to look at AI impact on people and jobs
11 October 2017: 30% of jobs in OECD countries at risk of automation
Artificial intelligence applications in the physical world (e.g. in transportation) bring into focus issues related to human safety, and the need to design systems that can properly react to unforeseen situations, and have minimum unintended consequences. AI also has implications in the cybersecurity field. On the one hand, there are cybersecurity risks specific to AI systems. As AI is increasingly embedded in critical systems, they need to be secured to potential cyber-attacks.
On the other hand, AI has applications in cybersecurity; the technology is being used, for example, in email applications to perform spam filtering, but it is also increasingly employed in applications aimed to detect more serious cybersecurity vulnerabilities and address cyber-threats.
Developments
20 February 2018: Report outlines security threats from malicious use of AI
13 February 2018: Researchers demonstrate AI systems can learn from implicit human feedback
13 February 2018: AI featured in the annual threat assessment of the US intelligence community
12 June 2017: Researchers try to make AI safer by having algorithms learn from human feedback
AI systems work with enormous amounts of data, and this raises concerns regarding privacy and data protection. Such concerns are well illustrated by the increasingly important interplay between AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data.
AI provides ‘thinking’ for IoT devices, making them ‘smart’. These devices, in turn, generate significant amounts of data – sometimes labeled as big data. This data is then analysed and used for the verification of initial AI algorithms and for the identification of new cognitive patterns that could be integrated into new AI algorithms. In this context, developers of AI systems are asked to ensure the integrity of the used data, as well as embed privacy and data protection guarantees into AI applications.
Developments
14 August 2017: Amazon uses AI to identify and protect sensitive data
As AI algorithms involve judgements and decision-making – replacing similar human processes – concerns have been raised regarding ethics, fairness, justice, transparency, and accountability. The risk of discrimination and bias in decisions made by AI systems is one such concern, as illustrated in the debate that has surrounded Jigsaw’s Conversation AI tool.
While potentially addressing problems related to misuse of the Internet public space, the software also raises a major ethical issue: How can machines determine what is and what is not appropriate language? One way of addressing some of these concerns could be to combine ethical training for technologists (encouraging them to prioritise ethical consideratins in the creation of autonomous technologies) with the development of technical methods for designing AI systems in a way that they can avoid such risks (i.e. fairness, transparency, and accountability by design).
Researchers are carefully exploring the ethical challenges posed by AI and are working, for example, on the development of AI algorithms than can 'explain themselves'. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has launched a Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems, aimed at contributing to ensuring that technologists are educated, trained, and empowered to prioritise ethical considerations in the design and development of intelligent systems.
Developments
9 April 2018: AI experts ask governments to introduce algorithmic impact assessments
25 January 2018: UK Prime Minister calls for ethical rules for AI
18 October 2017: Researchers call for more accountability in AI systems
3 October 2017: DeepMind launches Ethics & Society Unit
23 August 2017: Germany adopts ethics guidelines for automated driving
19 July 2017: IEEE to develop standard for personal data AI agent
12 June 2017: Researchers call for guidelines on AI accountability
One overarching question is whether AI-related challenges (especially regarding safety, privacy and data protection, and ethics) call for new legal and regulatory frameworks, or whether existing ones can be adapted to address them. Adapting current regulation is seen by many as the most suitable approach for the time being. Governments are advised that, when considering regulatory approaches towards AI, attention should be paid to ensuring that such approaches do not hinder innovation and progress.
Aspects related to accountability and liability in AI systems are also viewed as important legal issues to consider, and questions are raised as to the legal status of AI machines (i.e. robots): should they be regarded as natural persons, legal persons, animals or objects, or should a new category be created? In a January 2017 report containing recommendations to the European Commission on civil law rules on robotics, the European Parliament recommended, among others, that the Commission considers 'creating a specific legal status for robots in the long run, so that at least the most sophisticated autonomous robots could be established as having the status of electronic persons responsible for making good any damage they may cause, and possibly applying electronic personality to cases where robots make autonomous decisions or otherwise interact with third parties independently'.
Developments
5 April 2018: AI experts concerned about the idea of granting legal status to robots
6 November 2017: AI bot granted residence in Tokyo
25 October 2017: Saudi Arabia grants citizenship to a robot
24 October 2017: Tech industry groups adopts AI policy principles
10 October 2017: Estonia to address the legal status of AI
11 July 2017: Researchers able to identify specific neurons responsible for AI decisions
While AI technologies continue to evolve at a fast pace and have more and more applications in various areas, countries are increasingly understanding that they need to keep up with this evolution and indeed take advantage of it. Many are elaborating national AI development strategies, as well as addressing the economic, social, and ethical implications of AI advancements.
Developments
16 April: UK parliamentary committee issues recommendations on AI
10 April 2018: European countries sign declaration on AI cooperation
29 March 2018: French president launches national AI strategy
21 March 2018: Bill introduced in the US Congress on AI and security
9 March 2018: European Commission forms experts groups on AI and liability and new technologies
5 March 2018: UAE forms Council to oversee AI integration in public sector
19 February 2018: India sets up its first AI institute
9 February 2018: Indian government creates committees on AI
12 January 2018: France: Foreign takeover of AI and data companies might require governmental approval
5 January 2018: Chinese government invests in an AI technology park
12 December 2017: Bill introduced in the US Congress to promote AI development
19 October 2017: UAE launches AI strategy and appoints minister for AI
16 October 2017: Report outlines recommendations for UK to advance in AI
4 October 2017: US Senate committee endorses bill on self-driving cars
14 September 2017: India’s AI task force starts working
13 September 2017: US government approves new guidelines for self-driving cars
1 September 2017: Russian president warns about global monopolies in AI
21 August 2017: Taiwan to invest in AI initiatives
20 July 2017: China releases AI development plan
19 July 2017: UK Parliament launches inquiry into AI implications
Artificial intelligence and its various existing and potential applications feature more and more often on the agenda of intergovernmental and international organisations. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), for example, has facilitated discussions on intelligent transport systems, while the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has started looking at the impact of automation on he world of work. Within the UN System, the High Contracting Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) established a Group of Governmental Experts on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), to explore the technical, military, legal, and ethical implications of LAWS.
In 2013, the Meeting of State Parties to the Convention on prohibitions or restrictions on the use of certain conventional weapons which may be deemed to be excessively injurious or have indiscriminate effects (Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons) agreed on a mandate on LAWS and mandated the creation of a group of experts 'to discuss the questions related to emerging technologies in the areas of lethal autonomous weapons systems'. The group was convened three times, in 2014, 2015, and 2016, and produced reports which fed into meetings of the High Contracting Parties to the Convention. In 2016, the CCW High Contracting Parties decided to establish a Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS (CCW GGE), to build on the work of the previous groups of experts.
Mandate. CCW GGE was mandated to examine issues related to emerging technologies in the area of LAWS in the context of the objectives and purposes of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
Composition. The group has an open-ended nature, and is open to all High Contracting Parties and non-State Parties to the CCW, international organisations, and non-governmental organisations.
Meetings
Developments
Resources
The Committee of experts on human rights dimensions of automated data processing and different forms of artificial intelligence (MSI-AUT) was set up by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers with the following tasks:
Mandate. The group will carry its work between January 2018 and December 2019.
Composition. The group is composed on 13 experts, comprising seven government or member States’ representatives, designated by the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI), and six independent experts, appointed by the Secretary General with recognised expertise in the fields of freedom of expression and independence of the media online and off-line.
Meetings
Artificial intelligence has been around for many years. Launched as a field of research more than 60 years ago, AI is now shaping the so-called fourth industrial revolution, and is implemented in many areas. Let’s take a look…
AI is also seen as a technology that can enhance human intelligence and assist humans in performing certain tasks.
Developments
4 Februay 2018: China to use AI to enhance its nuclear submarines
Several companies, from Google to Uber, are working towards enabling self-driving cars powered by AI systems. Some have already started testing such cars on the roads. Drones powered by AI are no longer news, while autonomous weapons raise concerns about their potential implications for the human kind.
Developments
4 April 2018: Researchers concerned about reported work on autonomous weapons at a South Korean university
2 April 2018: California goes ahead with plans to allow fully autonomous cars
6 March 2018: The UK to review legislation to prepare for self-driving vehicles
5 March 2018: Researchers bring driverless cars closer to seeing around corners
1 March 2018: Arizona and California allow fully autonomous cars on public roads
15 February 2018: Germany not to acquire autonomous weapons
25 January 2018: Self-driving buses in trial in Stockholm
5 January 2018: Half of new cars in China to be powered with AI by 2020
7 November 2017: Waymo tests self-driving cars with no safety driver
11 October 2017: California proposes changes to its self-driving cars regulations
4 October 2017: US Senate committee endorses bill on self-driving cars
10 September 2017: UK not to use fully autonomous weapons
4 September 2017: Elon Musk says AI could lead to third world war
23 August 2017: Germany adopts guidelines for automated driving
20 August 2017: AI companies write to UN on autonomous weapons
11 August 2017: Autonomous vehicles to have profound impact on labour, US gov study says
Scientists are looking at ways in which AI can enhance other technologies such as the IoTs. A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), for example, has developed a chip that could enable IoT devices to run powerful AI algorithms locally, thus improving their efficiency.
AI applications range from tools that can help catch spam and other unwanted messages on social networks or in e-mails, to algorithms that can help protect systems and networks as complex as the CERN grid.
Internet companies are increasingly using AI algorithms to deal with hate speech, terrorism content, and other forms of extremist content online. Researchers propose new algorithms that could be used in content control policy, one example being an AI algorithm for identifying racist code words (code words used to substitute references to communities) on social media.
Developments
15 June 2017: Facebook talks about using both AI and human expertise to tackle online terrorism content
Internet and tech companies employ AI to improve existing services or design new ones. Few examples: Twitter has started using AI to improve users’ experience, Google has launched a new job search engine based on AI algorithms, and Microsoft has a range of AI-based intelligent applications (from Calendar.help to the AI chatbot Zo).
Developments
21 June 2017: AI being used in payment fraud prevention for e-commerce
Researchers have been working on improving the accuracy of translation tools by using AI. Examples include Microsoft Translator and Google Translate. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) also developed an AI-based tool to facilitate the translation of patent documents.
Developments
14 March 2018: Microsoft announces milestone in machine translation
AI applications in the medical field range from medical robots to algorithms that could improve medical diagnosis and treatment.
AI and robotics are the drivers of the fourth industrial revolution, as automated systems are increasingly being deployed in IT, manufacturing, agriculture, power grids, rail systems, etc.
Developments
17 October 2017: Intel announces first neural network processor
The private sector and the academic community alike are continously exploring new avenues of AI development. While some focus on developing new AI-based applications in areas such as those mentioned above, other focus on trying to address issues such as accountability and responsibility in AI algorithms.
Developments
13 February 2018: Researchers demonstrate AI systems can learn from implicit human feedback
5 December 2017: Researchers develop system enabling self-supervised robot learning
25 October 2017: Researchers develop tool to bring transparency into AI
18 October 2017: AlphaGo Zero: DeepMind’s newest AI system that learns from itself
15 September 2017: Facebook opens AI lab in Canada
7 September 2017: MIT and IBM launch AI research lab
4 September 2017: AI research institute established in Australia
28 July 2017: Researchers work on empowering AI with imagination
12 July 2017: Microsoft launches AI for Earth initiative and Research AI lab
11 July 2017: Researchers able to identify specific neurons responsible for AI decisions
Author and curator: Sorina Teleanu
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[Last updated: 16 April 2018]
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