The Atlantic Council hosted Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Director-General Dame Carolyn Fairbairn in Washington, D.C. on February 5, 2020 for a discussion about the UK’s global trading future post-Brexit. Dame Carolyn was supportive of the UK pursuing a new free trade agreement with the US that would include new standards for tech including ecommerce, fin-tech, and artificial intelligence (AI). She suggested that the OECD AI Principles would be a good place to start with respect to operationalizing high AI standards in a U.S.-UK trade deal. There is a lot to be said for this approach, particularly in making Principle 2.5 c) a reality: c): “Governments should promote the development of multi-stakeholder, consensus-driven global technical standards for interoperable and trustworthy AI.” This also makes sense because neither the United States nor the United Kingdom are likely going to want to do away with the idea that market access commitments in trade agreeme ...

This well attended event entitled: “Artificial Intelligence: What Can be Learned from Other Countries Approaches?” can be viewed on YouTube here.   Professor Susan Aaronson provide a preview of her work on the topic which will be discussed in a paper entitled: “Data is a Development Issue.”  Some takeaways included the reality that there are no broadly generalizable studies on the impact of AI on job creation – in fact, available data can be used to posit both that it contributes to job loss or gain; cybersecurity will include an AI component; bias in AI is possible (just as it is in non-AI contexts), but it can be addressed; and, the AI use skills deficiency in people capable of an inter-disciplinary approach to AI use is both real but also an opportunity.  Given that McKinsey (among other estimates of the economic impact of AI) estimates that AI could deliver up to 16% higher global GDP by 2030, understanding and taking advantage of t ...

On November 13, I participated in the Federal Trade Commission’s workshop on Ethics and Common Principles in Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, and Predictive Analytics along with James Foulds, an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Rumman Chowdhury, the Global Lead for Responsible AI at Accenture Applied Intelligence, Martin Wattenberg, a Senior Research Scientist at Google, Erika Brown Lee, Senior VP & Assistant General Counsel at MasterCard, and Naomi Lefkovitz, a Senior Privacy Policy Advisor at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.  The following commentary is based on my remarks and the discussion at the panel. In 2017, SIIA published its Ethical Principles for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics as a guide for companies as they develop and implement advanced data analytic systems.  There are many other such ethical principles including the famous Belmont principles of respect for persons, benefic ...

Yesterday, ITIF’s Center for Data Innovation held an event titled, “How Countries are Preparing for the Global AI Race.”  The panelists touched on the approaches that the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China, and India are taking with respect to the development of AI.   As the panel progressed, it became clearer that there is no singular “key” to “winning” the global AI race. It is important to recognize that the challenges in AI advancement vary from country to country.  For example, China has a competitive advantage in terms of data, but it still has a considerable skills gap that is hindering that data from being utilized in an AI capacity.  According to panelist Robin Mishra of the German Embassy, Germany has a highly-skilled labor force and has invested a considerable amount in research and development, yet it lacks robust industry outside of manufacturing that can take advantage of further developing A ...

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) and the European Center for International Political Economy (ECIPE) hosted a stimulating June 19, 2018  panel discussion on “The Future of AI” in Brussels at ECIPE’s offices.   European Commission Policy Officer Andrea Glorioso, Delft University Professor Jeroen van den Hoven, Elsevier Senior Vice President  for Analytics for Research Products Elisabeth Ling, and Thomson Reuters Global Head of Risk Technology Management Solutions Alex Cesar provided perspectives on what it will take for the European Union to achieve the ambitious public and private and investment objectives it has set for itself in its April 25, 2018 Communication on Artificial Intelligence.  It was a privilege to moderate this event, and I thank ECIPE and the panelists for their participation.     Synopsis of Panelist Views Andrea Glorioso noted that the Commission has specifically opted not to pr ...

Last week, Google released a blog of seven ethical principles to guide their work in artificial intelligence.  The principles are:

With just over a week until the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect, companies around the world are coming into compliance with the far-reaching law. Inboxes everywhere have been overflowing with consent notifications over the past few months. If you’re just getting started on GDPR or generally curious, here is a brief overview of the GDPR. Disclaimer – GDPR is broadly written and is context-specific. If your company is in need of compliance help, consider engaging with an outside firm to address your compliance needs.

In recent days, the Trump Administration has homed in on the promises of artificial intelligence (AI).  On Thursday, the White House issued an AI fact sheet titled, “Artificial Intelligence for the American People.” The fact outlines the Administration’s commitment to investing in AI research and development, creating a regulatory environment that fosters innovation pertaining to AI, and providing workers with 21st Century job skills.  In addition, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) chartered the National Science and Technology Council Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, with the goal of sustaining and enhancing U.S. leadership in AI.  The stated purpose of this Select Committee is “to advise and assist the NSTC to improve the overall effectiveness and productivity of Federal research and development (R&D) efforts related to artificial intelligence.”  It will also “address significant national and ...

Yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Information Technology held a hearing titled, “Game Changers: Artificial Intelligence Part III, Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy.”  The purpose of this hearing was to hear from experts in the artificial intelligence (AI) space to examine the potential role for the government and private sector in addressing challenges posed by AI technology as well to consider the merits and costs of government solutions to some of these challenges.  Overall, the hearing was very insightful and many of the panelists expressed similar views to SIIA. While AI technology presents incredible potential, there are certain challenges that come along with its implementation.  These challenges, such as ethical considerations, global competitiveness, privacy, and the future of work, have been examined many times by stakeholders.  SIIA has also highlighted many areas in which the gove ...

Twenty years ago, Hal Varian and Carl Shapiro published what has become the classic introduction to network economics.  Called Information Rules it described and illustrated key economic concepts like network effects, positive feedback loops, standards wars, market tipping points and switching costs, using examples that are now so dated that would not be recognizable to today’s digital natives.  But the text drilled into a generation of entrepreneurs and policymakers the importance of understanding the basic economics of network industries before starting a network business or trying to throw a regulatory net around a network industry.   Today Hal Varian works as Google’s chief economist. In his personal capacity he delivered a crash course on AI and data to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s TecGlobal 2018 meeting on April 4. He illustrated the familiar advances in machine learning through pattern recognition in voice and images, noting that it was t ...