key: cord-1047411-r4om7d2t
authors: nan
title: News
date: 2020-08-18
journal: Kunstliche Intell (Oldenbourg)
DOI: 10.1007/s13218-020-00687-2
sha: 72d602f02cdb0b222ab98e66773370b4a0dafd2c
doc_id: 1047411
cord_uid: r4om7d2t

nan

https ://ec.europ a.eu/digit al-singl e-marke t/en/news/white -paper -artifi cial -intel ligen ce-publi c-consu ltati on-towar dseurop ean-appro ach-excel lence EU consultations are an important means for citizens as well as institutions and organisations to have a voice in European policy. The EU Consultation on Artificial Intelligence has raised considerable interest in academic as well as non-academic institutions and organisations and has received over the period of 4 months (19. February till 14. June 2020) over 1200 contributions. It was composed of a questionnaire based on a White Paper and the possibility to upload position papers. A first summary of the quantitative results of the questionnaire is now available online. An analysis of over 450 position papers is still being carried out. The questionnaire targets three topics: (1) specific actions for the support, development and uptake of AI, (2) options for a future regulatory framework on AI and (3) safety and liability aspects of AI.

With respect to specific actions for the support, development and uptake of AI-not surprisingly-90% of the respondents rated skills as (very) important. In contrast, the support of public private partnerships (PPP) and small and mediums sized enterprises (SMEs) received less support (rated by 72% and 69% respectively as (very) important). Another divide of the respondents' opinions concerns the actions to strengthen AI research and innovation in Europe. While 86% of the respondents agreed that the support of existing networks of research and innovation centers was (very) important, only 64% see the initiative for a lighthouse research center as (very) important.

The regulatory framework for AI in Europe is an important part of the consultation and has been in the focus of NGOs who criticized the distinction between low-and highrisk AI. Especially the classification of whole areas such as the medical area as low-risk AI was criticized in parallel to the consultations. Overall, 90% of the participants found breaches of civil rights by AI (very) important concerns. Interestingly, concerns about lack of accuracy was rated as (very) important only by 70%. There was no clear pattern on whether a new regulatory framework is needed or modifications of the current one are sufficient according to the participants. Yet, the mandatory requirements proposed by the White Paper were widely seen as (very) important: clear liability and safety rules (91%), information on the nature and purpose of an AI system (89%), robustness and accuracy of AI systems (89%), human oversight (85%), quality of training datasets (84%) and the keeping of records and data (83%).

After a full synopsis report covering also qualitative aspects of the online questionnaire as well as an analysis of the position papers and the results of various workshops and public hearings a regulatory proposal has been announced as the next steps by the EU.

https ://www.vbw-bayer n.de/vbw/Aktio nsfel der/Bildu ng/ Hochs chule /50-neue-KI-Profe ssure n.jsp#:~:text=Alle%20 bay erisc hen%20Uni versi t%C3%A4ten %20erh alten %20min deste ns,mit%20jew eils%20min deste ns%20zwe i%20Pro fessu ren.

The Bavarian secretary for Research, Bern Sibler, has announced the results of the Bavarian contest for 50 professorships in AI. With this step all 100 professorships that have been announced in the Hightech Agenda of Bavaria last fall are now complete. The topics of the new 50 professorships are distributed over the four thematic areas intelligent robotics, mobility, health, and data science.

In sum, every Bavarian university receives at least two new AI professorships-the University of Bamberg has even achieved 7. The 50 professorships will be installed in the universities till 2023. The planned AI network in Bavaria foresees an AI-center in Munich with 22 AI-oriented professorships as well as nodes in Würzburg, Erlangen-Nürnberg and Ingolstadt. Calls

Conference on Artificial Intelligence organized in cooperation with the Fachbereich Künstliche Intelligenz der Gesellschaft für Informatik

The technical program of KI2021 comprises paper presentations as well as tutorials and workshops. Please find the detailled scope of the conference and submission information in the Call for Papers