July 1, 2019

The Commission explains that organisations can now test the assessment list for trustworthy AI, developed by the Expert Group, to see how robust it is in practice. Over 300 organisations have already expressed interest in doing so since the group released its Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI in April this year. An online survey has been created to gather feedback on the assessment list and will be open until 1 December 2019.

The Expert Group will also carry out in-depth interviews with selected representatives from the public and private sectors to better understand the implications of implementing the assessment list in different sectors.

Both the interviews and the feedback from the piloting survey will feed into a revised version of the assessment list, to be published in early 2020, and will impact on the next steps to be taken by the new Commission.

The Expert Group has also published a list of 33 recommendations. It says that the focus is on ensuring “sustainability, growth, competitiveness and inclusion while empowering, benefiting and protecting individuals”.

The recommendations call on EU and national policymakers to:

• empower and protect people and society: ensure individuals understand the capabilities, limitations and impacts of AI; protect them from any harm; and provide them with the necessary skills to use and benefit from AI;
• take up a tailored approach to the AI market: assess the different needs and sensitivities raised by AI systems used in Business-to-consumers (B2C), Business-to-business (B2B) and Public-to-Citizens (P2C) contexts, and address these accordingly;
• secure a Single European Market for trustworthy AI: remove barriers to procure lawful, ethical and robust AI-enabled goods and services from all over Europe, while enabling a competitive global position through large integrated markets;
• enable AI ecosystems through sectoral multi-stakeholder alliances: boost stakeholder co-operation across civil society, industry, the public sector and research and academia, while understanding the different impacts and enablers for different sectors;
• foster the European data economy: further develop policy actions in data access, sharing, reusing and interoperability, while ensuring high privacy and data protection, and putting in place the necessary physical infrastructures;
• exploit the multi-faceted role of the public sector: ensure the public sector leads by example by delivering human-centric public services, making strategic use of innovation-driven public procurement, and fostering cooperation with stakeholders;
• strengthen and unite Europe’s research capabilities: establish and demonstrate intellectual and commercial leadership in AI by bringing together European research capacity in a multidisciplinary manner;
• nurture education: ensure a wide skills base through primary, secondary and tertiary education, as well as enabling continuous learning;
• adopt a risk-based governance approach to AI and ensure an appropriate regulatory framework: map relevant laws, assess to which extent these are still fit for purpose in an AI-driven world, and adopt new measures where needed to protect individuals from harm, thus contributing to an appropriate governance and regulatory framework for AI;
• stimulate an open and lucrative investment environment: enhance investment levels in AI with both public and private support; and
• embrace a holistic way of working, combining a ten-year vision with a rolling action plan: look at AI’s overall opportunities and challenges for the next ten years, while continuously monitoring the AI landscape and adapting action on a rolling basis, as needed; join forces with all stakeholders for the implementation of the ethics guidelines and policy recommendations.

To read the Commission’s press release in full and for further information, click here.