Robert GIANNI

Governance of Responsible AI: From Ethical Guidelines to Cooperative Policies

Frontiers in Computer Science

The increasingly pervasive role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our societies is radically cha... more The increasingly pervasive role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our societies is radically changing the way that social interaction takes place within all fields of knowledge. The obvious opportunities in terms of accuracy, speed and originality of research are accompanied by questions about the possible risks and the consequent responsibilities involved in such a disruptive technology. In recent years, this twofold aspect has led to an increase in analyses of the ethical and political implications of AI. As a result, there has been a proliferation of documents that seek to define the strategic objectives of AI together with the ethical precautions required for its acceptable development and deployment. Although the number of documents is certainly significant, doubts remain as to whether they can effectively play a role in safeguarding democratic decision-making processes. Indeed, a common feature of the national strategies and ethical guidelines published in recent years is tha...

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From technology assessment to responsible research and innovation (RRI)

2016 Future Technologies Conference (FTC), 2016

How can technology assessment methodologies be developed to move ethical questions to the forefro... more How can technology assessment methodologies be developed to move ethical questions to the forefront of enquiry? This methodological question was one of the key factors in an exercise in Responsible Research and Innovation carried out as part of SNIFFPHONE, a project on medical diagnostics. This paper discusses the methods used to apply Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in SNIFFPHONE, one of the European Commission's H2020 projects. In addition we will describe shortly implementation plan and first activities of RRI in another H2020 project, called BODEGA. The aim of the project is to build an expertise at the European level about human factors in future smart borders (e.g. ABC gates, video based risk analysis) in a way to enhance its efficiency without negative side effects.

Responsible innovation in research: a reflexive governance to scientific development: panel

The EU seeks to become a genuine Innovation Union in 2020 striving for excellent science, a compe... more The EU seeks to become a genuine Innovation Union in 2020 striving for excellent science, a competitive industry and a better society without compromising on sustainability goals as well as ethically acceptable and socially desirable conditions. Europe strongly needs to develop a normative and comprehensive governance framework for Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). We will both look for the current state of RRI and suggest some further development of the approach.

Governance of Responsible Innovation

Governance of Responsible AI: From Ethical Guidelines to Cooperative Policies

by Robert GIANNI and Mika Nieminen

The increasingly pervasive role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our societies is radically cha... more The increasingly pervasive role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our societies is radically changing the way that social interaction takes place within all fields of knowledge. The obvious opportunities in terms of accuracy, speed and originality of research are accompanied by questions about the possible risks and the consequent responsibilities involved in such a disruptive technology. In recent years, this twofold aspect has led to an increase in analyses of the ethical and political implications of AI. As a result, there has been a proliferation of documents that seek to define the strategic objectives of AI together with the ethical precautions required for its acceptable development and deployment. Although the number of documents is certainly significant, doubts remain as to whether they can effectively play a role in safeguarding democratic decision-making processes. Indeed, a common feature of the national strategies and ethical guidelines published in recent years is that they only timidly address how to integrate civil society into the selection of AI objectives. Although scholars are increasingly advocating the necessity to include civil society, it remains unclear which modalities should be selected. If both national strategies and ethics guidelines appear to be neglecting the necessary role of a democratic scrutiny for identifying challenges, objectives, strategies and the appropriate regulatory measures that such a disruptive technology should undergo, the question is then, what measures can we advocate that are able to overcome such limitations? Considering the necessity to operate holistically with AI as a social object, what theoretical framework can we adopt in order to implement a model of governance? What conceptual methodology shall we develop that is able to offer fruitful insights to governance of AI? Drawing on the insights of classical pragmatist scholars, we propose a framework of democratic experimentation based on the method of social inquiry. In this article, we first summarize some of the main points of discussion around the potential societal, ethical and political issues of AI systems. We then identify the main answers and solutions by analyzing current national strategies and ethics guidelines. After showing the theoretical and practical limits of these approaches, we outline an alternative proposal that can help strengthening the active role of society in the discussion about the role and extent of AI systems.

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Panel - responsible innovation in research: A reflexive governance to scientific development

2014 IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Science, Technology and Engineering, 2014

The EU seeks to become a genuine Innovation Union in 2020 striving for excellent science, a compe... more The EU seeks to become a genuine Innovation Union in 2020 striving for excellent science, a competitive industry and a better society without compromising on sustainability goals as well as ethically acceptable and socially desirable conditions. Europe strongly needs to develop a normative and comprehensive governance framework for Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). We will both look for the current state of RRI and suggest some further development of the approach.

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