Nikkei Asia reported that at this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, more and more voices mentioned the issue of artificial intelligence and how to regulate artificial intelligence. The World Economic Forum holds hundreds of discussions and speeches every year on a wide range of topics such as diplomacy, environment and the latest technology.
"We have to consider the unintended consequences of any new technology along with all the benefits and consider them simultaneously, rather than waiting for unintended consequences to arise and then address them," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said this week during an appearance at the Davos conference that ended on Friday. "Managing risk proactively is the right thing to do." Microsoft is partnering with OpenAI, the developer of the popular generative artificial intelligence ChatGPT. He added that he did not want OpenAI to be subject to greater control at a time when European and British regulators were considering investigations into the deep relationship between the two companies.
"We just want good stability," Nadella said in an interview at Bloomberg House in Davos, referring to AI regulations under review such as the European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act, a code of conduct developed at last year's G7 summit in Hiroshima and a United Nations advisory body on artificial intelligence established in October.
In a speech in Davos, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pointed out the risks that artificial intelligence poses to human rights, personal privacy and society, calling on the private sector to join multi-stakeholder efforts to develop a "networked and adaptive" governance model for artificial intelligence.
"We urgently need governments to work with technology companies to develop risk management frameworks for current AI developments and to monitor and mitigate future harms," he said, adding, "The world needs to increase its use of AI so that developing economies can realize its vast potential. We need to bridge the digital divide, not deepen it."
According to the International Monetary Fund, nearly 40% of the world’s employed people are exposed to artificial intelligence, and this proportion is as high as 60% in developed economies. Many governments recognize the need for regulation.
In December, the European Union took the lead in temporarily passing artificial intelligence legislation. Countries around the world have been exploring regulation and governance around artificial intelligence. Many of the sessions at Davos explored governance and regulation issues and why global leaders and technology companies should work together.
"Legislation is much slower than in the technology world, but this is the law. We suddenly saw generative AI in the underlying model of ChatGPT. This prompted us to draft a new chapter of the AI Act together with local legislators. We tried to react to the new reality. The results are already out. Fine-tuning is still in progress, but I am confident that the AI Act will come into effect," Vera Jourova, the European Commission's vice president for values and transparency, said at a panel discussion in Davos.
There are many ways to regulate artificial intelligence, but Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith told the panel that he expects more convergence in the future. "We're not going to develop a world without disagreements, but people actually care about a lot of the same things and actually have similar approaches to solving those problems."
He also pointed out: "It is worth reminding that there are various laws around the world that are not necessarily formulated for artificial intelligence, but definitely apply to artificial intelligence, privacy laws, cybersecurity rules, digital security, child protection, consumer protection, competition law."
Citing the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the G7 code of conduct and United Nations agencies, he said: "You will see these things step up in a quite reasonable way. People may say that GDPR is Europe setting the rules for the world. But this time, the United States still has not passed a privacy law, and several countries are talking to each other and learning from each other. This is good for the world."
During the discussion, Singapore's Minister of Communications and Information Josephine Teo said that "there must be international rules." China’s attitude towards artificial intelligence was also mentioned in the discussion, which highlighted China’s attitude towards privacy. There are similarities between China's norms and those in the West, but there are also "big differences."
Yulova said: "In China, they want to use artificial intelligence to control society. In the artificial intelligence bill, during the terrible long and difficult negotiations, the main issue was to what extent let the state use artificial intelligence, especially in the field of law enforcement, because we want to maintain this idea of protecting individual people and balance it with national security measures. So here we cannot have a common language with China."
Smith concluded the discussion by noting: "Even in a world so divided, there are areas of values that are universal. No government wants machines to start the next war. Every country wants humans to continue to control this technology."
He added: "When we carefully analyze the existing artificial intelligence bills and look at China's current measures, you will find that on the one hand there is the voice of Aristotle and on the other hand the voice of Confucius. These long-term different philosophical traditions are reflected in how the government manages society."