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Brexit offers Britain a golden AI opportunity - Printable Version

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Brexit offers Britain a golden AI opportunity - C C - Mar 26, 2020

https://capx.co/brexit-offers-britain-a-golden-ai-opportunity/

EXCERPT: . . . the European Commission released its draft strategy to advance data and AI. Its support for ‘trustworthy’ AI sounds reasonable enough, but reveals a glaring flaw in Brussels’ strategy: a crude, simplistic separation between low and high-risk applications. At the moment, the EU’s proposals betray an unjustified anxiety about the risks of so-called deep learning (DL), the algorithmic approach responsible for a lot of recent AI progress.

[...] Their logic is that modern statistical approaches to AI are often “black boxes” which prevent outside observers from fully understanding the algorithm’s decision-making process. While it is true that current AI’s are often inscrutable, this doesn’t prevent them from being tremendously helpful in “high risk” applications. ... Despite the current closed nature of AI systems, areas such as causality research, algorithmic fairness and interpretability research are attracting some of the best and brightest in the field.

[...] And this is an area in which the UK is well placed to prosper. The NHS has made a name for itself globally in its willingness to partner with AI firms to deliver better quality treatment. ... Another British firm, Babylon Health, has partnered with NHS practices to provide digital diagnostics to patients, again alleviating the strain on an overburdened system. These are just the kind of exciting initiatives that the EU;s policies would try to limit.

As it sets a new course outside the bloc, the UK ought to ramp up its support for the development and deployment of AI in sectors where it can deliver the greatest benefit. In this, it would need to distinguish itself from the EU’s direct regulation of technologies and focus on minimising the risks from use.

[...] Canada provides a good model here: the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which has led globally in supporting core research, commercialisation, and the enforcement of ethical standards in AI. The UK would do well to takes its cues from the Canadians in this area. ... Should it succeed, the UK will have taken advantage of one of the great opportunities of Brexit – and offered a stark contrast to the EU’s excessively cautious approach... (MORE - details)