Description:

"AI Policymaking: A Tale of Two Domains"

By Barry O'Sullivan, Visiting Professor of Computer Science in the McCormick School of Engineering

O'Sullivan is a professor at the School of Computer Science & IT at University College Cork, a fellow and past president of the European AI Association, and an executive council member of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.

Abstract: Over the last several years, there has been considerable focus on the ethical concerns that arise due to the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. A variety of policy approaches have emerged internationally in this respect. The European Union (EU) has taken the approach to introduce a specific regulation for AI, the EU AI Act. In this talk, O'Sullivan will present a perspective on the origins of the EU’s approach to AI ethics, its notion of Trustworthy AI, and the development of the EU AI Act. However, most international AI governance efforts have focused on the civilian domain only with little consensus in relation to AI applied in military, intelligence, and national security settings. O'Sullivan will present his experiences of developing a code of conduct for the use of AI in the military domain, and specifically the outcomes to date and current state of a longstanding Track II diplomacy dialogue between U.S., Chinese, and international experts. He will contrast the differences in developing governance mechanisms for AI in these two contrasting domains and highlight some opportunities and challenges in moving things forward on an international level.

This event is part of the Fay Lomax Cook Winter 2025 Colloquium Series, where our researchers from around the University share their latest policy-relevant research.

Please note all colloquia this quarter will be held in-person only.