technology
Digital ministers want to regulate AI quickly but moderately
You have to make sure “that artificial intelligence serves us and doesn’t manipulate us,” says Digital Minister Volker Wissing. photo
© Lennart Preiss/dpa
Artificial intelligence should be regulated quickly, the federal and state governments agree on that. But at the same time there is also a warning against a “corset that is too tight”.
The digital ministers of the federal and state governments are calling for rapid but measured regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe. Without AI there will be no more competitiveness in the future, said Federal Digital Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) on Friday after a ministerial meeting in Munich. But it’s about the how: a regulatory framework that is innovation-friendly but “protects our values”, such as transparency and democratic values.
As an example, Wissing cited AI-controlled pro-Russian propaganda in social networks. If you want to do something about it, you have to waste no time. You have to make sure “that artificial intelligence serves us and doesn’t manipulate us,” he emphasized. Bavaria’s digital minister, Judith Gerlach (CSU), said they wanted to use the opportunities offered by AI and minimize risks through good regulation. She criticized previous proposals at European level as going too far and warned against a “corset that was too tight”. AI innovations in Europe should not be jeopardized. There should be no fear and no ideology-driven requirements.
Artificial intelligence usually refers to applications based on machine learning, in which software scours large amounts of data for matches and draws conclusions from them. They are already being used in many areas. At the same time, there are concerns that technology based on AI could be misused to spread false information.
The state ministers and senators responsible for digitization agreed that they wanted to upgrade themselves: From next year there should be a formal conference of digital ministers, comparable to the established conference of interior or education ministers.