The Politics of AI

The Politics of AI conference was convened by GC to bring together business leaders and policymakers to explore how best to strike the right trade-off between regulation and innovation in the global race to embrace artificial intelligence.

The programme focused on the following themes:

• What should a national strategy for AI look like? Should government see AI as an industrial policy challenge in which first mover advantage is a priority? In what ways should they be anticipating its impacts in order to manage them before they arrive? Where is the balance between regulation and innovation for these nascent technologies?
   
• If AI has the potential to reshape the contribution of human labour – in the forms of human judgement to economic growth – what are the implications for those being displaced?
   
• In the case of digital health, what are some of the complex questions around liability frameworks, human oversight in AIdriven decision making and how patients can be given a meaningful stake in the collection and analysis of their medical data.
   
• What balance can be found between an open internet and online information management, especially when AI is being used to select who and what is published. What does this mean for the future of freedom of expression and political campaigning?
   
• What are the risks and opportunities in the increased use of automation in financial markets and investment management? Are we ushering in a new age of cheaper and more disinterested trading and investment freer from biases and irrationality? How can financial regulators reframe questions of stability, responsibility and accountability in this context?

Speakers included:

• Simon Segars, Chief Executive Officer, Arm
   
• Elizabeth Denham, Commissioner, Information Commissioner’s Office
   
• Tina Fordham, Managing Director and Chief Global Political Analyst, Citi
   
• Paul Nemitz, Principal Advisor, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, European Commission
   
• Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, The RSA
   
• Janine Gibson, Editor-in-Chief, Buzzfeed UK
   
• Roger Taylor, Chair, Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation
   
• Christopher Woolard, Director of Strategy and Competition, FCA
   
• Prof Lord Darzi, Paul Hamlyn Chair of Surgery at Imperial College London
   
• Marco Alverà, Chief Executive Officer, Snam
   
• Dr Gordon Sanghera, Chief Executive Officer, Oxford Nanopore
   
• John Thornhill, Innovation Editor, The Financial Times