Professor Thomas Metzinger gave a small foretaste of what awaits European citizens with Artificial Intelligence (AI). The European Commission appointed him, an expert in Theoretical Philosophy, to the High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence. This Group comprises 52 experts from academia, civil society and industry. ‘Everyone has the urge to catch the train, but no one knows when it will leave or where it is heading’, he stated.
AI increasingly enters important fields of daily life with potential threats to the job market and changes for the social security system and health. This has implications for Europe’s strategic positioning vis-à-vis other big players like China and the United States.
Professor Metzinger highlighted the importance of ethics applied to AI as a new domain of research. Moreover, he called ‘Ethics washing’, the increase of non-binding ethical debates, a major obstacle to concrete policy regulations.
His message was a plea for new guidelines from the High-Level Group and an authentic statement of their strengths and weaknesses. So far first results from the Group have been incomplete in terms of unsolved issues and long-term vision and not concrete enough. Whilst still industry-dominated, they are considered as the best proposal.
These Ethics Guidelines will become available in the second week of April.
Thomas Metzinger, Professor at the University of Mainz