Advertisement
Artificial intelligence
OpinionComment
Andy Chun
Andy Chun

The View | Europe’s AI regulation seeks a balance between innovation and risk. Is Hong Kong ready?

  • As AI plays a greater role in people’s lives, the EU is looking to build on its data protection regulation and set a gold standard for trustworthy AI
  • Formal legislation is a good start on building trust and confidence among users, something Hong Kong and the mainland can emulate

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
The Engineered Arts Ameca humanoid robot gestures during the Consumer Electronics Show on January 5 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Governance and ethics around AI are coming under increasing scrutiny as firms continue to embrace the emerging technology. Photo: AFP
Andy Chun
With its increasingly pervasive use, from smartphone apps to self-driving cars, artificial intelligence (AI) is touching every aspect of our lives. Recommendations made by AI are already directly affecting people’s daily lives, as well as how corporations and governments make decisions.
However, if not designed and used properly, AI can present many potential risks. For example, AI used in social media can influence how people think and potentially sway political outcomes. AI is now even used in warfare to spread disinformation.

In recent years, we have seen many incidents where faulty data sets or improperly designed AI algorithms demonstrated biases that adversely affected certain portions of the population.

For example, we have seen AI recruitment systems that consistently scored female applicants lower or AI facial recognition systems that performed poorly for minorities. An AI system used in US state courts was shown to be racially biased, misclassifying black people as twice as likely to reoffend compared to whites.

An AI health care risk-prediction algorithm used on more than 200 million people in the United States systematically referred white patients for extra medical care over black patients. Facebook’s AI advertising algorithm was found to be biased according to gender, race and religion.

Europe wants to change all that and make itself a hub for trustworthy AI. European spending on AI will reach US$22 billion in 2022, according to research firm IDC. Especially after Covid-19, European companies recognise the need for AI automation to improve business efficiency and digital resilience.

Advertisement