Discussing emerging trends and topical issues for Artificial Intelligence Governance Professionals and Data Privacy Professionals.
Why does AI need governance and regulation?
My interest in AI (Artificial Intelligence) began in Qatar, where I directed the national university legal research centre specialising in studies into emerging technologies law and policy.
As passionate researchers of legal and governance issues in emerging technologies, my colleagues and I spent many years contemplating and publishing on what we believed would become the definitive disruptive technology - Artificial Intelligence (AI). With enormous potential to improve productivity in the workplace and help humans become more efficient by removing the need for laborious tasks, the appeal of AI was always going to be too alluring for humans to ignore, despite being aware of the associated risks.
Such study is central to the purpose of the Alan Turing Institute, an organisation which I have been delighted to find based at Newcastle University where I hold a Visiting Professorship, allowing meaningful interaction.
"AI has enormous potential to improve productivity in the workplace and help humans become more efficient"
What are the risks of not having AI Governance?
My colleague Dr. Rafael Brown is an excellent scholar and forward-thinking AI expert, renowned in the field of AI. He and I pondered for much time on how to resolve the seemingly impossible conflict between encouraging AI innovation and adoption for social and economic benefit, and allowing untested and unpredictable technology to beta-test with full access to the internet. Our entire human knowledge and economic processes would be available to AI that will become self-aware and far more intelligent than humans, without emotions or loyalty like humans, and a track record of ‘black-box’ incidents of unpredictable decision-making.
Does the EU GDPR regulate AI?
In our Cambridge article, we advocated sandboxing to mitigate harm, and elsewhere we put forward regulatory proposals designed to ensure data processes remain transparent and controlled by humans, for human interest. For example, we highlighted flaws in the EU’s GDPR and Proposed Artificial Intelligence Regulation which have hopefully helped inform policy and improve legislation in the EU and elsewhere our findings are cited in the European Parliament library as relevant sources.
How is AI and data Governance relevant to the Middle East?
Some of our research also sought to ensure AI governance remains socially and culturally relevant. For example, we sought to establish how Islamic principles and Middle Eastern culture could influence how AI and data governance laws could be determined regionally so that it could be more effective than having a transplantation of laws based on western norms.
Such a consideration is central to AI governance, which in its multidisciplinary and holistic approach considers the social and ethical aspects of AI alongside the technical and legal aspects. This is a fundamental aspect of the IAPP’s (International Association of Privacy Professionals) AIGP (Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional) Certification.
Whether we like it or not, AI is now suddenly with us and is rapidly becoming an essential tool in the workplace.
Whether we like it or not, AI is now suddenly with us and is rapidly becoming an essential tool in the workplace.
Which professionals need AIGP AI Governance Programmes?
Generative AI such as ChatGPT has made AI famous, as Bitcoin made Blockchain famous, but in both instances, there are far more prevalent uses within business processes than their poster children. Given the swift uptake in AI adoption, information security professionals have an imminent challenge to protect their organizations and ensure effective and trustworthy governance of AI systems by establishing clear policies, procedures, and standards related to AI and data use. AI governance requires constant awareness of the evolving nature and impact of AI as well as the emerging regulatory frameworks and best practices that aim to address the challenges and opportunities posed by AI.
Why is the IAPP’s AIGP Certification needed now?
As such, the IAPP AIGP certification has been established to help establish a common standard and language for AI governance as well as foster a community of practice that can share insights and experiences. This will help legal and governance professionals, compliance and risk management professionals, data scientists, AI project managers, and model ops teams operate with sound and uniform practices.
What is the IAPP’s AIGP Certification?
The IAPP AIGP certification has been established to help create a common standard and language for AI governance and foster a community of practice that can share insights and experiences. This will help legal and governance professionals, compliance and risk management professionals, data scientists, AI project managers, and model ops teams operate with sound and uniform practices. The IAPP recently released its Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional Body of Knowledge (BoK), which is the foundational document for the upcoming AIGP certification and training for the emerging AI governance profession.
Is the IAPP’s AIGP Certification available in the GCC or Middle East?
This forms the basis for the AI Governance Professional Training, which we are offering to our GCC clients in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain. We hope that by developing such practices and providing accredited training, we can avoid the types of nightmare scenarios predicted in sci-fi literature and even by data ethics and data management scholars. More information is coming soon.
Prof. Jon Truby PhD is an Artificial Intelligence Law Professor and an AI Governance Professional trainer at MENA Executive Training.