Portugal Tech League warns of risks of paralysis of innovation in Artificial Intelligence – Internet
The European Commission’s Proposal for Regulation on Artificial Intelligence (AI) was presented in February 2020 as one of the flags of the European Union’s digital strategy, responding to an exponential growth of available solutions and integration in different areas of activity. Trust in technology is identified as one of the key elements, and that is why a series of control measures were defined, especially in areas considered to be high risk.
AN Portugal Tech League, an initiative that involves different sectors of the technological community in Portugal to clarify, discuss and propose digital policies, has just released a report pointing out the risks of the proposal, warning of the fact that it can dissuade startups and SMEs from the European Union from innovate.
“The European Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation on Artificial Intelligence (AI), despite being a fundamental milestone in the European Union’s (EU) digital strategy at the global level, will have negative impacts on the ambition to encourage and invest in technology in the European space – above all by startups and digitally oriented SMEs “, defends one organization.
How the initiative’s activities and recommendations are aligned in the report Article of Artificial Intelligence Law Position: Startups, SMEs and the need for a clearer path to expansion in Europe, which was made available today and which is addressed to the technological community and especially to legislators in Lisbon and Brussels.
There are seven concrete recommendations on some elements of the proposed regulation, on the main challenges faced by associations that deal with these issues on a daily basis.
“The series of recommendations defends that the proposed regulation should establish a simple and clear path for the growth of products and services based on AI of startups and scaleups operating in European territory”, refers to the Portugal Tech League. “These companies are among the main drivers of the digital single market and are essential to realizing the ambitions of the European Ecological Pact and the European Digital Strategy”, something the organization believes is particularly prominent in the post-COVID-19 era.
For the Portugal Tech League, creating a more favorable legal framework within the scope of testing AI solutions under conditions close to real ones is of great importance. “Despite being one of the two pillars of the proposal, only 2 of the 85 articles openly aim to support innovation, which reveals an almost exclusive focus on risk mitigation, mainly through regulatory sandboxes that are clearly insufficient for the purpose of protect innovators and entrepreneurs,” he said.
The report also states that it is necessary to calibrate the relationship between techniques used by AI systems and the definition of AI systems with high risk for the health, safety and fundamental rights of citizens. It is also indicated that it is equally important to reassess the risks associated with techniques fully consolidated in the European market and to reconsider the requirements when qualifying to become available for placing on the market, which are totally disproportionate to the real risks they present. Otherwise, the “high risk” categorization becomes the rule rather than the exception, impacting AI innovation.
What can be done for greater acquaintance?
The project needed to promote the sharing of a set of obligations proportional to the reality of the innovation ecosystem and AI startups in Europe, which take into account not only the risk level of the application, but also the position occupied in the value chain .
“The identification of the AI product or service as a mandatory measure can determine the limits of access and control that startups have as to how users integrate or apply their AI systems”, says the organization.
“The applicability and impact of AI-based products and services are constantly expanding, or have led us to question the rigidity of certain requirements and the origin development resulting from the Artificial Intelligence Act scenarios. If we want more startups and innovative SMEs, then producing AI systems in Europe, we should be working in that direction, otherwise we could be pushing entrepreneurs to other markets” affirm the founders of the initiative in a joint statement.
The document also refers to how, accordingly, and how these need to be aligned with the contexts of the main innovation agents (such as startups) in order not to call into question those that link in high-risk AI due to lack of clarity and unpredictability of some of the assessment deadlines. Along the same lines, it is mentioned that the implementation of standardization standards would also benefit from a longer transition period, giving startups more time to adapt. However, until these standards are developed and implemented, as startups and as SMEs, they must face the challenges of identifying, gaining access or licenses that prove their compliance with the law.
“The development of these new standards cannot be a barrier in the already challenging activity of a startup. In addition to the need to accelerate the pace, it is also essential that proposals come as close as possible to those that are already available, as legal certainty is fundamental for actors with fewer resources”.
A Portugal Tech League team online an explainer and a podcast that intend to contribute to a greater clarification of the Artificial Intelligence Act and that they are conquered online.
Initiatiba Portugal Tech League was created by collaborative innovation consultant Beta-i to bring together different agents of the innovation ecosystem, inside and outside Portugal, in favor of startups and the digital economy as a whole, including as SMEs. Among the founders of initiative, in this first phase, are Allies for Startups, AWS – Amazon Web Services, CIP – Business Confederation of Portugal, Eupportunity, European Startup Network, FDUCP – Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Portugal, GeSI – Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative, Google, Investors Portugal, Microsoft, Startup Portugal, Startup Sesame, Casa dos Bits / Sapo Tek, Talkdesk and VdA Advogados.