For all the potential benefits of AI, is there a risk, asks Annette Kroeber-Riel, that we will lose control of the machine?
 
Europe and the US are thinking about how to regulate AI, she says, and their thinking is pretty closely aligned. Companies like Google have been thinking deeply about the benefits and the risks it presents.
 
“What I am most concerned about is that the European Union, the US and other important players are discussing it very much independently of each other.”
 
Can all come together in a mutual understanding of the difficult ethical issues around AI? 
 
“I would feel much better if there was a global discourse on such important topics. Without an open ethical discussion you can’t employ AI properly in the broader sense.”
 
This places a duty on political leaders to stimulate a debate within society, particularly in Europe which is currently being too protectionist. 
 
“If you are not encouraging everyone to learn about digital, to gain digital skills, to understand what AI can and can’t do, to have an open societal debate about technology, not only warning about the risks but also educating citizens, then I don’t believe Europe will be able to catch up with the rest of the world,” she argues. 
 
“At the moment we are not open enough to discussing the benefits of AI in an open and future-minded way.”
 

 

An interview with Annette Kroeber-Riel,
Vice President, Government Affairs and Public Policy for Europe, Google