Session
Organizer 1: James Nathan Adjartey Amattey, Bahneister Technologies
Speaker 1: Paola Galvez, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 2: James Nathan Adjartey Amattey, Private Sector, African Group
Speaker 3: Natalie Tercova, Technical Community, Eastern European Group
Speaker 4: Ananda Gautam, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Nicolas Fiumarelli, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Osei Manu Kagyah, Civil Society, African Group
Natalie Tercova, Technical Community, Eastern European Group
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: A roundtable layout encourages equal participation and interaction among all participants. We plan to make this as interactive as possible and listen to shared experiences of regulatory limitations from different parts of the world.
1. What specific regulations currently hinder the adoption of AI, and how can these be reformed to promote technological advancements to ensure safety? 2. How can policymakers and regulatory bodies design flexible regulations that can adapt to rapid technological advancements without compromising on ethical standards and public safety? 3. What examples of successful AI applications in critical areas (like emergency drones, and industrial automation) can be used to inform future regulatory approaches that foster innovation and safeguard the public? 4. What strategies can be implemented to mitigate employment risks while capitalizing on A benefits for productivity and economic growth?
What will participants gain from attending this session? Takeaways for Participants: 1. Knowledge: a. Negative impacts of overregulation on innovation. b. Examples of regulations hindering beneficial technologies. c. Balancing innovation with public safety concerns. 2. Insights: a. Youth perspectives on technology and responsible innovation. b. Potential of AI-driven technologies for societal challenges. c. Need for nuanced approach to regulation. 3. Understanding: a. Complex relationship between policy, technology, and society. b. Importance of youth engagement in technology discussions. c. Collaborative efforts for a technology-driven future. 4. Tools: a. Framework for evaluating regulation impact on innovation. b. Strategies for advocating for responsible technology development. c. Network of young people passionate about technology. 5. Additional Benefits: a. Critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. b. Networking and collaboration opportunities.
Description:
This workshop, led by young minds, tackles the critical issue of overregulation hindering technological innovation. It focuses on how stringent policies like the EU AI Act are perceived as barriers to progress, potentially slowing down the development and deployment of beneficial technologies. Through engaging discussions, participants will explore specific examples of overregulation's impact, such as AI-driven emergency drones with defibrillators facing regulatory hurdles despite their potential for saving lives. Additionally, concerns around new biases introduced by AI content policies and other regulations impeding innovation will be addressed. This conversation aims to empower the next generation to harness technology's full potential for societal good, while seeking modifications to existing regulations that support innovation without compromising public safety. The ultimate goal is to find a balance between policy and progress, ensuring responsible technological advancement.
1. A comprehensive report summarizing the key discussions, insights, and recommendations from the session. 2. A set of concrete policy recommendations addressing the identified regulatory barriers and proposing modifications to support responsible innovation. 3. Organization of additional workshops, seminars, and advocacy campaigns to continue the conversation about responsible technology and policy reform.
Hybrid Format: Hybrid Platform: We are aware that the IGF will utilize a reliable video conferencing platform that supports seamless interaction between onsite and online participants. Dual Moderation: We have assigned two moderators, one onsite and one online, to manage the flow of discussion and ensure everyone has an opportunity to contribute. Active Participation Tools: We will encourage online participants to use features like chat, polls, and Q&A to engage in real-time discussions. Shared Documents: We will use collaborative tools like Google Docs or online whiteboards to allow participants to contribute ideas and work together on solutions in drafting workshops outputs. Accessibility: We will arrange to ensure the session is accessible to all participants, regardless of location or disability, by providing closed captioning, transcripts, translation and alternative formats for materials.
Report
Governments must define and understand the public policy problem. Regulators must must identify when to regulate, what to regulate and why they need to regulate.
It takes time to enforce regulation so how do Governments and private sector collaborate to ensure that neither have to play catch up.
Innovation does not happen in a Vacuum, it happens on the brink of societal and regulatory changes and Governments need to make sure that they do not overregulate innovation into extintion.
Participants called for the creation of guidelines rather than hardcore regulation. This way, governments can provide a road map to allow businesses to pursue innovative ventures without breaking the law.
Governments need to optimize on resources. They have to focus in areas where there are more risks, and minimize regulation in low risk areas. The members of the panel agree that flexible and adaptable regulations are the way to go as circumstances are changing regularly.
Technology and innovation have always been drivers of societal progress. However, the fast-paced evolution of digital technologies, especially artificial intelligence, presents unique challenges. How can we foster innovation without stifling it through overregulation? How do we ensure safety and ethical standards while allowing technology to reach its full potential? These are critical
This session was conducted in a roundtable format to encourage equal participation and interaction among our esteemed panelists and the audience. To set the stage, the moderator briefly introduced our panelists. Following this, each panelist took a moment to introduce themselves and share their motivations for participating in this session. Afterward, we took a deep dive into the core discussion, addressing key policy questions. Toward the end, we opened the floor for questions from the audience, both online and onsite, moderated by Osei Manu Kagyah.
Most of the discussions focused on AI and innovation in this space.
AI as a Double-Edged Sword:
AI tools can play a crucial role in detecting harmful content, and empowering users to evaluate information critically. However, the same technology can be misused to create harmful materials like deepfakes and AI-generated child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), amplifying risks.
Governments and international bodies must develop and enforce regulations that specifically target the misuse of AI for creating harmful materials, ensuring accountability and imposing consequences for violations.
Paola mentioned that innovation and regulation needs to focus on local needs, how we can regulation complement innovation. On AI, she stated the need for an umbrella regulation on AI. She added that every country must be clear on what it wants, its position on LAWS for example, and the risk of using AI for surveillance as it can target people from migrations, foster bias against minority groups. She stated that capacity development is needed to help people build the knowledge and skills.
Paola also recommended different approaches for regulations and policy development
Risk-Based Approach
- Focuses resources on high-risk areas, minimizing efforts on low-risk ones.
- Offers flexibility and adaptability to changing circumstances.
- Risk assessment is complex and guidelines are still being developed by AI offices.
- No universal model exists; the market is exploring how to identify and manage risks effectively.
Human Rights-Based Approach
- AI can perpetuate societal inequalities and challenges.
- Offers tremendous potential to help achieve SDGs more efficiently without replacing human rights.
- Advocates for regulation throughout the AI lifecycle to uphold human rights.
- Challenges include complexity, opacity (black boxes), and broadly worded regulations.
- A gap exists in involving human rights law experts in the process, limiting practical examples.
- Suggests the need for hard law to address these gaps.
Council on the Rule of Law and Human-Centric Approach
- Promotes a human-centric approach but lacks mandatory enforcement.
- Different processes are being developed based on basic principles.
Principle-Based Approach
- Focuses on fairness, accountability, and fostering innovation while preventing harm.
- Examples:
- Singapore: Trustworthy AI principles (fairness, accountability) but not exhaustive.
- China: Strict and detailed rules with high compliance costs, leaving little room for interpretation.
Outcome-Based Approach
- Focuses on measurable results rather than controlling processes.
- Example: Japan's approach measures outcomes to ensure effectiveness.
- Latin America aligns with EU practices but faces contextual challenges.
- Suggests adopting best practices while considering local contexts.
James analyses the societal and regulatory events that foster innovation. He highlighted that the siesmic change caused by COVID led to a wave of innovation such as autonomous drones, telemedicines and data regarding covid hotspots to arrange relief. He also gave examples of a technological timeline of how innovations developed because they were given room to evolve and not stifled by regulation. He admitted that these innovation should not be given a runway but rather move hand in hand with regulation.
Natalie spoke about her work in Child Sexual Based Material and the role of AI models and deepfakes in propagating these materials especially the ones surrounding child ponography and how regulation can help to curb issues around the use of technology and AI to promote voilence and abuse against children and women.
Thank you.