AI Europe / Stakeholder summit

On 18 June 2018, the European Economic and Social Committee, together with the European Commission, organised a stakeholder summit on artificial intelligence (AI). The summit brought together businesses representatives, academia, workers, citizens, policy makers and NGO's to discuss the next steps to advance the EU strategy on AI.

AI technologies offer great potential for creating new and innovative solutions to improve people's lives, grow the economy, and address challenges in health and wellbeing, climate change, safety and security. Like any disruptive technology, however, AI carries risks and presents complex societal challenges in several areas such as labour, safety, privacy, ethics, skills and so on. A broad approach towards AI, covering all its effects (good and bad) on society as a whole, is crucial. Especially in a time where developments are accelerating.

In two plenary sessions and three parallel working groups, experts, speakers, panellists and attendees were invited to elaborate on the three pillars of the EU strategy on AI:

  1. Legal and ethical challenges
  2. Socio-economic impact
  3. Industrial competitiveness