AI and tech sovereignty at Web Summit: video

When it comes to managing AI at the tech governance level, it’s important to define terms—and to have an international perspective.

That’s what panelists at Web Summit Vancouver told IT Brew’s Senior Reporter Eoin Higgins on May 14. The panel, entitled “Getting AI right: From tech sovereignty to digital transformation,” featured Shivam Kishore, senior advisor for digital transformation at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Maria Luisa Aldim, executive councilwoman for the Municipality of Lisbon, and Fabrizio Del Maffeo, CEO and co-founder of Axelera AI.

The first thing is to define terms, Del Maffeo said. A lack of understanding around what AI can and can’t do has restricted regulators’ approach to the technology.

“There is a lot of fear in Europe, too much fear, versus seeing it as a tool, which can be a great equalizer or create a great divide,” Del Maffeo said. “AI is such a technology, which can help reduce the gap between advanced society and the laggards.”

Kishore agreed, noting the importance of universal standards for AI and tech governance, and pointing to the notion of sovereignty—how nations and organizations determine their dependencies and alignments with AI—as a key part of the conversation. The question of who owns and controls data and AI has been debated for a long time, but, Kishore suggested, the concept is undergoing a transformation “because of the power differential between the public and the private sectors.”

“If the notion of sovereignty has changed from ownership, what does it mean?” Kishore asked. “Because that’s the only way we can think about regulations effectively without impeding innovation, and one of the things that’s coming up more and more is how do you exercise choice in systems that you can’t fundamentally own.”

But balancing those regulations with innovation can present problems—as Aldim has found in Lisbon. Different countries and regions have diverging approaches to AI, presenting challenges.

“We are creating two different worlds on usage, and we shouldn’t,” Aldim said. “It’s really important to not have these kinds of barriers.”