On November 18, AI for Humanity and Society 2020, an online conference on humanity and societal aspects on artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, was organized by WASP-HS.
Nearly 400 participants from industry, the public sector, universities and research institutes were registered for the day, which addressed many of the challenges and opportunities that society face with artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.
“This first WASP-HS conference on AI, humanity and society, the importance of multidisciplinary approaches to AI to leverage AI impact in ways that benefit all of us, have really been made very clear by all panelists. Ensuring the beneficial use of AI is a task of all,” says Virginia Dignum, Program Director of WASP-HS.
Issues that was raised by the panelists concerned many ethical aspects on issues such as international security, medical health, labour market, international affairs, data by our biological ourselves, digital banking, human rights, social robots, social drones, trust, responsible AI and ethics in systems.
The conference was opened by Peter Wallenberg Jr., chair of the Wallenberg Foundations and Kerstin Sahlin, chair of WASP-HS and Professor at Uppsala University.
Sweden’s Minister of Energy and Digitization Anders Ygeman shared his thoughts on how AI affects Sweden’s conditions in increasingly strong international competition.
Two panel discussions were held during the day. The first about AI and its challenges and opportunities for society. The panel included Anja Kaspersen, Director, United Nations, Office for Disarmament Affairs, Oskar Nordström Skans, Professor Uppsala University, Marietje Schaake, Policy Director Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, Peter Wallenberg Jr., Chairman of the Wallenberg Foundations, and Sara Öhrvall, Head of Digitization, Customer Experience and Communication at SEB.
The second panel discussion on AI and humanity with the speakers Kjell Asplund, Professor and member of the Swedish Medical Ethics Council, Johan Bocander, Data Protection Officer SEB, Ingar Brinck, Professor Lund University, Vanessa Evers, Professor NTU Singapore, Juha Heikkilä, Head of Robotics and AI at the Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology European Commission.
A musical intermezzo with machine-made folk music was performed by members of The Society for the Preservation and Promotion of Machine Folk Music, under the direction of Bob Sturm.
The ongoing research projects within WASP-HS were also presented during the day.
The moderator of the conference was Cecilia Garme. Karin Danielsson and Tatyana Sarayeva, program coordinators for WASP-HS, managed the broadcast.
Photo above: Some of the panelists at the conference AI for Humanity and Society 2020.
