(Getty Images/istockphoto / Peshkova)
The debate on contact-tracing highlights the urgency of tackling unregulated technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). With a strong democracy and reputation for first-class research, Switzerland has the potential to be at the forefront of shaping ethical AI.
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)? "Artificial intelligence is either the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity," the prominent scientist, Stephen Hawking, who died in 2018, once said.
An expert group set up by the European Commission presented a draft ofethics guidelinesexternal linkfor trustworthy AI at the end of 2018, but as of yet there is no agreed global strategy for defining common principles, which would include rules on transparency, privacy protection, fairness, and justice.
Thanks to its unique features a strong democracy, its position of neutrality, and world-class research Switzerland is well positioned to play a leading role in shaping the future of AI that adheres toethical standards. The Swiss government recognizes the importance of AI to move the country forward, and with that in mind, has been involved in discussions at the international level.
What is AI?
There is no single accepted definition of Artificial Intelligence. Often, it's divided into two categories, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) which strives to closely replicate human behaviour while Narrow Artificial Intelligence focuses on single tasks, such as face recognition, automated translations and content recommendations, such as videos on YouTube.
However, on the domestic front, the debate has just begun, albeit in earnest as Switzerland and other nations are confronted with privacy concerns surrounding the use of new technologieslike contact-tracing apps, whether they use AI or not, to stop the spread of Covid-19.
The European initiative the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing initiative PEPP-PT advocated a centralized data approach that raised concern about its transparency and governance. However, it was derailed when a number of nations, including Switzerland, decided in favour of a decentralized and privacy-enhancing system, called DP-3T (Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing). The final straw for PEPP-PT was when Germany decided to exit as well.
"Europe has engaged in a vigorous and lively debate over the merits of the centralized and decentralized approach to proximity tracing. This debate has been very beneficial as it made the issues aware to a broad population and demonstrated the high level of concern with which these apps are being designed and constructed. People will use the contact-tracing app only if they feel that they don't have to sacrifice their privacy to get out of isolation," said Jim Larus. Larus is Dean of the School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC) at EPFL Lausanne and a member of the group that initially started the DP3T effort at EPFL.
According to a recent survey, nearly two-thirds of Swiss citizens said they were in favour of contact tracing. The DP-3T app is currently being tested on a trial basis, while waiting for the definition of the legal conditions for its widespread use, as decided by the Swiss parliament.However, the debate highlights the urgency of answering questions surrounding ethics and governance of unregulated technologies.
+ Read more about the controversial Swiss app
The "Swiss way"
Artificial intelligence was included for the first time in the Swiss government's strategy to create the right conditions to accelerate the digital transformation of society.
Last December, a working group delivered its report to the Federal Council (executive body) called the "Challenges of Artificial Intelligence". The report stated that Switzerland was ready to exploit the potential of AI, but the authors decided not to specifically highlight the ethical issues and social dimension of AI, focusing instead on various AI use cases and the arising challenges.
"In Switzerland, the central government does not impose an overarching ethical vision for AI. It would be incompatible with our democratic traditions if the government prescribed this top-down," Daniel Egloff, Head of Innovation of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) told swissinfo.ch. Egloff added that absolute ethical principles are difficult to establish since they could change from one technological context to another. "An ethical vision for AI is emerging in consultations among national and international stakeholders, including the public, and the government is taking an active role in this debate," he added.
Seen in a larger context, the government insists it is very involved internationally when it comes to discussions on ethics and human rights. Ambassador Thomas Schneider, Director of International Affairs at the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), told swissinfo.ch that Switzerland in this regard "is one of the most active countries in the Council of Europe, in the United Nations and other fora". He also added that it's OFCOM's and the Foreign Ministry's ambition to turn Geneva into a global centre of technology governance.
Just another buzzword?
How is it possible then to define what's ethical or unethical when it comes to technology? According to Pascal Kaufmann, neuroscientist and founder of theMindfire Foundationexternal linkfor human-centric AI, the concept of ethics applied to AI is just another buzzword: "There is a lot of confusion on the meaning of AI. What many call 'AI' has little to do with Intelligence and much more with brute force computing. That's why it makes little sense to talk about ethical AI. In order to be ethical, I suggest to hurry up and create AI for the people rather than for autocratic governments or for large tech companies.Inventing ethical policies doesn't get us anywhere and will not help us create AI.''
Anna Jobin, a postdoc at the Health Ethics and Policy Lab at the ETH Zurich, doesn't see it the same way. Based on her research, she believes that ethical considerations should be part of the development of AI: "We cannot treat AI as purely technological and add some ethics at the end, but ethical and social aspects need to be included in the discussion from the beginning." Because AI's impact on our daily lives will only grow, Jobin thinks that citizens need to be engaged in debates on new technologies that use AI and that decisions about AI should include civil society. However, she also recognizes the limits of listing ethical principles if there is a lack of ethical governance.
For Peter Seele, professor of Business Ethics at USI, the University of Italian-speaking Switzerland, the key to resolving these issues is to place business, ethics, and law on an equal footing. "Businesses are attracted by regulations. They need a legal framework to prosper. Good laws that align business and ethics create the ideal environment for all actors," he said. The challenge is to find a balance between the three pillars.
Artificial intelligence is being used to developrobots and drones that can explore dangerous places beyond the reach of humans and animals.
See in other languages: 4 See in other languages: 4 Languages: 4
The perfect combination
Even if the Swiss approach mainly relies on self-regulation, Seele argues that establishing a legal framework would give a significant impulse to the economy and society.
If Switzerland were to take a lead role in defining ethical standards, its political system based on direct democracy and democratically controlled cooperatives could play a central role in laying the foundation for the democratization of AI and the personal data economy. As the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences SATWsuggested in a whitepaper at the end of 2019, the model for that could be the SwissMIDATAexternal link, a nonprofit cooperative that ensures citizens' sovereignty over the use of their data, acting as a trustee for data collection. Owners of a data account can become members of MIDATA, participating in the democratic governance of the cooperative. They can also allow selective access to their personal data for clinical studies and medical research purposes.
The emergence of an open data ecosystem fostering the participation of civil society is raising awareness of the implications of the use of personal data, especially for health reasons, as in the case of the contact-tracing app. Even if it's argued that the favoured decentralized system does a better job preserving fundamental rights than a centralized approach, there are concerns about susceptibility to cyber attacks.
The creation of a legal basis for AI could ignite a public debate on the validity and ethics of digital systems.
Frida Polli is a neuroscientist and co-founder of pymetrics, an AI-based job matching platform based in the United States.
Horizontal Line
How the Swiss are moving back to the mountains
Form for signing up for free newsletter.
Sign up for our free newsletters and get the top stories delivered to your inbox.
More here:
Ethical artificial intelligence: Could Switzerland take the lead? - swissinfo.ch
- Researchers create innovative verification techniques to increase security in artificial intelligence and image processing - European Research Council - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Who in Europe is investing the most in artificial intelligence? - Euronews - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- 4 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Members of Congress Can't Stop Buying (and Nvidia Isn't 1 of Them!) - The Motley Fool - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- The Standard Names Porter Orr Second Vice President of Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Development - NRToday.com - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Meet Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the man behind the $2 trillion company powering today's artificial intelligence - CBS News - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- This Warren Buffett Dividend King Stock Just Invested $1.1 Billion Into Artificial Intelligence (AI) - The Motley Fool - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Joe Rogan Reveals What Could Be 'Game Over for the Human Race' - Newsweek - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- LegalTech Artificial Intelligence Market to Soar to $6.4 Billion by 2028: Global Long-term Forecast to 2033 - Strategic ... - Yahoo Finance UK - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Artificial Intelligence Tokens Stumble Again! Is The AI Hype Over? - Coinpedia Fintech News - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- CISA unveils guidelines for AI and critical infrastructure - FedScoop - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- IBM's Webinar: Cybersecurity In The Era Of Artificial Intelligence Keynotes - AiThority - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Being and becoming a good doctor in the age of artificial intelligence - Firstpost - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Pope to take part in G7 summit in June to talk Artificial Intelligence - Crux Now - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Pope Francis to attend G7 summit to speak on artificial intelligence - Catholic News Agency - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- 1 Unstoppable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock to Buy and Hold Forever - Yahoo Finance - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Pope to bring his call for ethical artificial intelligence to G7 summit in June in southern Italy - The Associated Press - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Elon Musk Called Tesla an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Robotics Company. Does That Make It a Buy? - The Motley Fool - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Emulating neurodegeneration and aging in artificial intelligence systems - Tech Xplore - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Pope Francis to participate in G7 session on AI - Vatican News - English - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- A Once-in-a-Generation Investment Opportunity: 1 Bill Ackman Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock to Buy Hand Over Fist ... - Yahoo Finance - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Tesla Stock Investors Cheer Progress on Its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Future - Yahoo Finance - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- In Race to Build A.I., Tech Plans a Big Plumbing Upgrade - The New York Times - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- A Baltimore-area teacher is accused of using AI to make his boss appear racist - NPR - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- 3 Top Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks That Billionaires Jim Simons, Ray Dalio, and Israel Englander Are Buying - The Motley Fool - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- The iPad Pro can give us a big surprise with its artificial intelligence chips. - Softonic EN - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Could Soar 70%, According to Wall Street. Time to Buy? - Yahoo Finance - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Billionaire Bill Ackman Owns 8 Stocks -- and This Hypergrowth Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Isn't One of Them - The Motley Fool - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Artificial Intelligence Has Come for Our...Beauty Pageants? - Glamour - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- 3 Stocks to Grab Now to Ride the Artificial Intelligence Chip Boom to Riches - InvestorPlace - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Is ASML's Big Sell-off a Warning Sign to Artificial Intelligence (AI) Investors? - The Motley Fool - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- 3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks to Buy With $1,150 and Hold for Decades - Yahoo Finance - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- This combines the power of artificial intelligence with human insights - finews.com - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Cohere Targets $5 Billion Valuation for ChatGPT Rival - PYMNTS.com - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- IMF: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Transform 40% of Jobs. Can Investors Capitalize? - Yahoo Finance - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Cathie Wood Is Selling These 2 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks. Should You? - Yahoo Finance - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF (NYSEARCA:IRBO) Shares Acquired by Creative Financial ... - Defense World - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Inaugural Plenary Meeting of States Endorsing the Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of Artificial ... - Department of State - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- AMD Fell Today -- Is This a Chance to Buy the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock? - Yahoo Finance - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Are Red-Hot, but Here's 1 to Avoid (for Now) - The Motley Fool - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- A Once-in-a-Generation Investment Opportunity: 1 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Growth Stock to Buy and Hold Forever - Yahoo Finance - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- 2 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks That Could Go Parabolic - The Motley Fool - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Artificial intelligence will radically improve health care, but only if managed carefully - The Hill - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Tennessee Makes A.I. an Outlaw to Protect Its Country Music and More - The New York Times - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- When Using Artificial Intelligence In Pharma R&D, Start With Identifying Problem To Solve - HBW Insight - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Why Super Micro Computer, Advanced Micro Devices, and Other Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Tumbled on Tuesday - Yahoo Finance - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- 3 Billionaires Are Selling Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Nvidia and Buying These 10 AI Stocks Instead - The Motley Fool - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Nvidia Just Bought 5 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks. These 2 Stand Out the Most. - The Motley Fool - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- UN adopts first global artificial intelligence resolution - ARMENPRESS - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- This New Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chip Is a Massive Game Changer for Nvidia Stock - The Motley Fool - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Nvidia Led the First Phase of Artificial Intelligence (AI), but These 2 Growth Stocks Will Lead the Next Phases ... - The Motley Fool - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Meet Wall Street's Newest Stock-Split Stock, Along With the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Likeliest to Follow in Its ... - The Motley Fool - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Amid Rumors of a Deal With Rivian, Apple Acquired This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Start-Up Instead - Yahoo Finance - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- UN adopts first global artificial intelligence resolution - CGTN - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- 1 No-Brainer Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock to Buy With $25 and Hold for 10 Years - The Motley Fool - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- 2 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks That Could Make You a Millionaire - The Motley Fool - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Is Intel the Best Artificial Intelligence (AI) Semiconductor Stock to Buy Before It Skyrockets? - The Motley Fool - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- The greater social implications of artificial intelligence - New Day NW - KING5.com - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- AI comes to the world of beauty as eyelash robot uses artificial intelligence to place fake lashes - Fox News - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Beyer Appointed To Bipartisan Task Force On Artificial Intelligence - Falls Church News Press - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Why Did Nvidia Invest in These 5 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks? Should You Buy Them, Too? - The Motley Fool - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Three key themes on artificial intelligence - Research Information - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- How Artificial Intelligence is transforming consumerism - WFLA - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- SAP names Philipp Herzig as chief artificial intelligence officer - CIO - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Unleashing the Power of Artificial Intelligence: Transforming Web-Based Applications for Enhanced Efficiency and User ... - Financialbuzz.com - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Koch Industries continues to accelerate its artificial intelligence initiative - The Business Journals - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Forget Nvidia: These 3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Can Be the Next Stock-Split Stocks - The Motley Fool - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Artificial Intelligence for small business focus of upcoming JWCC Lunch and Learn on Feb. 28 Muddy River News - Muddy River News - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Opponents Highlight the Environmental Impact of Artificial Intelligence - News-Press Now - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Generative AI's environmental costs are soaring and mostly secret - Nature.com - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Chapter Summary: Genesis of Artificial Intelligence and a Scientific Revolution: 1950-1979 - EIN News - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- What would Thomas Aquinas make of Artificial Intelligence? - ACI Africa - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- ChatGPT Predicted Bitcoin Price Will "Skyrocket" - Cryptonews - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Worried About an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Bubble? Consider This Billionaire Investor's Advice. - Yahoo Finance - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- This Super Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Could Be at the Beginning of a Terrific Bull Run - Yahoo Finance - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- 5 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks That Could Make You a Millionaire - Yahoo Finance - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Will AI replace Colorado teachers? Here's what experts say. - The Colorado Sun - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Nvidia Could Be About to Counter a Big Artificial Intelligence (AI) Threat With This Move - Yahoo Finance - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- The Healthiest U.S. Pharma Companies: Ranked by RealRate's Impressive Artificial Intelligence - Medium - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Down 84%, Is This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock a Buy After an Earnings Pop? - The Motley Fool - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- 'AI for Humans' may be the most entertaining way to learn about artificial intelligence - Fast Company - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]