UNU Macau AI Conference 2024 - the Global AI Ethics and Regulation session featured four keynote speakers who discussed ways to strengthen the global governance of artificial intelligence (AI). The speakers included Rostam J. Neuwirth (University of Macau), Ansgar Koene (EY Global AI Ethics and Regulatory Leader), and Yik-Chan Chin (Beijing Normal University). The session was chaired by Zheng Liang (Tsinghua University).
Rostam J. Neuwirth delivered a keynote speech on “Institutional Aspects of Global AI Governance,” pointing out that AI regulation is a global concern. Many countries have introduced various AI regulatory initiatives, regulations, and laws without reaching a consensus on their application and restrictions, resulting in global regulatory competition. Since AI regulation is a global challenge, it is thus necessary to transform fierce competition into international cooperation. AI regulation requires the active involvement of all nations to coordinate activities based on AI technology and enforce global ‘red lines.’ A multidimensional global institutional governance framework should be built to unite the diverse group of stakeholders that exist in the public sector, industry, and academic organizations.
Ansgar Koene gave a presentation on “AI Global Regulatory Landscape,” indicating that policymakers across key jurisdictions and international bodies have stepped up their efforts to “encourage” the development and use of “ethical and safe” AI/Generative AI systems in recent years. Recognizing that each jurisdiction has taken a different regulatory approach, in line with different cultural norms and legislative contexts, six areas of cohesion unite under the broad principle of mitigating the potential harms of AI while enabling its use for the economic and social benefit of citizens. These areas of unity provide strong fundamentals on which detailed regulations can be built, including core principles, a risk-based approach, sector-agnostic and sector-specific rules, policy alignment, private-sector collaboration, and international collaboration.
In her address on “Right to Data Access in the Digital Era: The Case of China,” Yik-Chan Chin mentioned that data, as a form of knowledge, its creation and definition involve human agency and interpretation. The right to data access is a right to access public information, which is recognized as an individual human right by many jurisdictions and human rights bodies (Riegner, 2017). It is also an inclusive right for all members of society to benefit from the availability of data. A comparison of the data policies of China and Western countries finds that data access has different but similar interpretations in the Chinese and global contexts, the former focuses on the legal and economic perspective while the latter stresses the sociological nature of the creation and dissemination of information and knowledge. China has issued targeted data policies for data access for three types of data – public, personal, and enterprise. In recent years, China’s data policies have focused on the protection of rights and interests of data enterprises and have shifted from the sharing of original data to the sharing of data products, from trading of ownership rights to trading of holding, process, use, and management rights of data.
Zheng Liang shared research on “Global AI Governance: Current Situation and the Chinese Approach,” stating that the global attention to AI governance has significantly increased with the rapid development of AI technologies and applications in recent years. In China, the governance philosophy of “People-Centered and AI for Good” has led to a series of initiatives, guidelines, and laws that have been issued to promote AI’s responsible development. In the United States, safety, transparency, and anti-discrimination principles are emphasized in AI governance to balance personal privacy protection with industry growth. Meanwhile, in the EU, forming and promoting AI standards and certifications are explicitly mentioned in the EU’s documents on AI governance. Though major countries have taken actions to promote AI governance, it still faces challenges globally. Increasing policy fragmentation has increased difficulties in developing a cohesive global governance framework, and the widening AI divide has resulted in significant development disparities. The United Nations (UN) is expected to be a balancer and guide of global AI governance. Last year, the UN formed the High-Level Advisory Body on AI to address issues on global AI governance. Liang recommended that multi-stakeholders join hands to promote AI governance under the UN framework.
Editor: Chang Liu
