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Nordic Centre for Internet and Society

Global Summit on Responsible AI in Rio

From September 19-23, The Global Summit on Responsible AI was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Summit brought together different stakeholders across countries over five day to discuss prominent topics in AI.

The Global Summit on Responsible AI was an initiative of the Institute for Technology & Society in Rio de Janeiro (ITS Rio), the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard (BKC), and the Nordic Centre for Internet & Society at BI Norwegian Business School (NCIS). The event was organized under the auspices of the Triple Partnership for Responsible AI Project, funded by the Norwegian Research Council.

The Summit brought together experts from different countries from a multi-stakeholder perspective to discuss the most prominent topics in AI. Present from the Nordic Centre for Internet and Society were Christoph Lutz, Christian Fieseler, Samson Esayas, Gemma Newlands, Santiago Uribe and Dicle Berfin Köse.

Global summit group photo

NCIS Contributions
The summit was kicked off with the panel A Global Conversation on AI and Inclusion: Where Do We Stand?, where Samson discussed the European AI policy landscape, including challenges relating to privacy and discrimination, as well as associated law such as the GDPR and proposed AI Act.

On day 3, Samson also moderated a panel on regulatory AI sandboxes, with a line up including Lorrayne Porciuncula (Datasphere Initiative and BKC), Armando Guio Español (CAF-Development Bank of Latin-America and BKC), Kari Laumann (Norwegian Data Protection Authority ), and Miriam Wimmer (Brazilian Data Protection Authority - ANPD).

On day 4, The Nordic Centre’s Christoph Lutz contributed to the panel Global North and South Asymmetries and the Development of AI, in which he spoke about digital inequalities on AI access, skills and outcomes. The panel was moderated by Janaina Costa (ITS Rio), and the other contributors were Diogo Cortiz (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Brazil), Núria López (Daniel Law, Brazil), and Shaun Pather (University of the Western Cape, South Africa).

Christoph Lutz kicked off the second half of day 4 with a presentation on designing transparency into artificial intelligence. Christian Fieseler's talk Moral Talk and the Quest for Legitimacy in AI Policy Work, then focused on how conversations on AI often develop a life of their own, for example in AI policy reports. These documents tend to take a moral stand, aspiring to moral values such as care, fairness, loyalty, sanctity, authority, and liberty.

On day 5, Gemma Newlands presented her work on AI as a service, and the AI supply chain. NCIS member Sandra Cortesi also held a presentation on future skills and the need for multi-stakeholder initiatives when it comes to AI and education. Closing remarks of the week were presented by Elisabeth Sylvan (BKC), Carlos Affonso Souza (UERJ), and our very own Christian Fieseler.

All presentations and inputs from the NCIS members were well received and sparked interesting follow-up questions and discussions.

The Triple Partnership for Responsible AI (3AI)
The Summit is a part of the Triple Partnership for Responsible AI (3AI), which brings together research institutions in Norway, the U.S. and Brazil, aiming to draw on globally diverse viewpoints. Through joint courses, workshops and conferences, the project will connect scholars, industry representatives, and policy makers. They seek to investigate how AI can be made fair, accountable and transparent, in order to address the societal impacts of AI.

The summit led to rich discussions and many informative presentations. Thank you to ITS Rio de Janeiro for hosting the Summit, for contributing to broadening our perspectives, and for the outstanding organization and hospitality.