We live in exciting times where artificial intelligence is quickly finding its way into our societies. Artificial intelligence promises to have huge transformative effects to many sectors. However, the potential is accompanied by risks for human safety, dignity, privacy and autonomy. On the one hand, there is fear about how powerful artificial intelligence will become and what it will do to our jobs. On the other hand, artificial intelligence has already become an everyday reality and is benefitting society in terms of healthcare, education, and in many more sectors. So far, only a few governments and parliaments are starting to gather information and endeavour to develop regulatory frameworks. Should policymakers take a precautionary approach towards regulating artificial intelligence or is light-handed regulation the best way forward?

The European Parliament’s own-initiative report on Civil Law Rules on Robotics demonstrates how this issue entered the political arena. The European Commission is to present its strategy on artificial intelligence on 25 April 2018. 

On behalf of the Digital Working Group, Jan Philipp Albrecht, Julia Reda and Max Andersson would like to invite you to a hearing to discuss priorities for developing the artificial intelligence sector in the EU. We would like to create a venue for dialog between policy makers, practitioners, academics and ethics experts.

Draft Agenda

14:30 – 15:00 Pick up of external participants

15:00 – 15:15 Welcome and introduction by Jan Philipp Albrecht

15:15 – 15:35 Opening Keynote
Professor Dame Wendy Hall Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, England

15:35 – 16:35 Panel 1: EU for Artificial intelligence: current framework and future plans in the European Institutions

• Catelijne Muller Member EESC | Rapporteur on Artificial Intelligence | EU Advisor to the Board VCP
• Björn Juretzki Policy Officer Unit A2 DG CONNECT | European Commission
• Professor Dame Wendy Hall Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, England
  Q&A

Introduction of the 2nd panel by Max Andersson

16:40 – 17:40 Panel 2: Artificial intelligence for the EU: How to ensure that AI improves society as a whole?

• Fredrik Heintz Associate Professor of Computer Science at Linköping University | President of the Swedish AI Society

• Matthias Spielkamp Co-founder of the German Initiative AlgorithmWatch
  Q&A

17:40 – 17:50 Concluding remarks by Julia Reda

17:50 – 18:30 Reception

Moderator: Jennifer Baker
Journalist based in Brussels specialising in EU policy and legislation in the technology sector. @BrusselsGeek

The hearing will be live-streamed. Translation into German will be available.

Due to the high interest and huge number of registrants, registration for this event is now closed. Thank you for your understanding.
We kindly invite you to follow the live stream and tweet your questions and remarks using the hashtag #FutureAI.
Please join us to deepen the dialogue between academia and the European institutions!

Fore more information on the topic have a look at the Green Positions on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (PDF).