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The EU AI Act by EuroTech Universities

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act will introduce a risk-based approach to AI. With this EuroTech Policy Deep Dive on 25 May 2023, we discussed its implications for researchers and innovators.

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act

The EU AI Act will introduce an approach of evaluating risks of AI systems on the principles of ethical AI. Its impact will be felt widely across different industries as the law creates new regulatory obligations for AI tools used in education, industrial AI, medical devices, the car industry, machinery, financial services, etc. It will apply extraterritorially to any provider or distributor of AI whose services or products reach the EU market.

The AI act does not directly target research. However, universities and their partners often work very close to the market in developing new technologies and systems for AI. How can researchers anticipate the new requirements? Do all researchers need to build expertise on ethics and AI? What will the EU AI Act mean for research-industry collaboration, for university start-ups, and for researchers working in ‘high-risk’ AI areas?

We addressed those and more questions in this EuroTech Policy Deep Dive. We were happy to welcome the following distinguished speakers:

Setting the scene: The Artificial Intelligence Act from a researcher’s perspective
Sveta Zinger, Associate Professor in Digital Image Analysis Technologies for Healthcare, Eindhoven University of Technology

Responding to the Artificial Intelligence Act
Panel discussion

  • Kilian Gross
    Head of the Artificial Intelligence Policy Development and Coordination Unit, European Commission
  • Wassim Bouaziz
    PhD Student at École Polytechnique & Meta AI
  • Sneha Das
    Assistant Professor at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark
  • Jean-Pierre Hubaux
    Academic Director of the Center for Digital Trust at EPFL
    Co-Founder of Tune Insight
  • Sveta Zinger
    Associate Professor in Digital Image Analysis Technologies for Healthcare, Eindhoven University of Technology

Recording

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Speakers

Click on the speakers to learn more about their backgrounds.

Wassim Bouaziz

Wassim (Wes) Bouaziz is a PhD student in Machine Learning at École Polytechnique and Meta AI. He graduated with a MSc in Mathematics, Computer Vision and Machine Learning from École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay in 2020 with highest honors.
His thesis focuses on the robustness and the fairness of machine learning algorithms against malicious agents. The latter could unknowingly influence AI systems and put their users at risk.

Wassim Bouaziz
École Polytechnique, Meta AI

Sneha Das

Sneha Das is a tenure-track assistant professor with the section for Statistics and Data Analysis (STATS) at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science (Compute), Technical University of Denmark (DTU). She received her PhD from Aalto University, Finland in 2021 within Speech and Language Technology, her MSc degree in Communication and Multimedia Engineering from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany in 2016 and her Bachelor degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering in 2013 (BMS Institute of Technology, India). Sneha was born in Kolkata, India.

She works on multi-sensory data modelling with shared perspective from statistics, low-resource machine-learning and signal processing for applications in mental health and well-being. She is specifically interested in speech and multi-modal technology founded on equity and inclusiveness, whereby her current research focuses on technology for children and atypical populations.

Sneha Das
Technical University of Denmark

Kilian Gross

Since 16 of January 2020 Kilian Gross is Head of Unit A/2 in DG CNECT responsible for policy development and coordination with regard to Artificial Intelligence in the EU. Based on the work of the High-Level Expert Group the Unit has drafted a White Paper on Artificial Intelligence, which presents the options on how to promote the uptake of Artificial Intelligence and how to address at the same time the risks associated with certain uses of this new technology. Following a comprehensive public consultation in April 2021 the Unit proposed a legal framework aiming to address the risks generated by specific uses of AI. At the same time his Unit has updated the Coordinated Plan which supports the development and uptake of AI in the EU and searches to align national AI policies. The proposal for an AI-Act is currently negotiated with the co-legislators i.e. the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. In parallel, the Unit ensures the implementation of the Coordinated Plan on AI.

Beside his work on AI, Kilian Gross leads the legal team, which has prepared and now supports the negotiations of the proposal for a European Chips Act.

Beforehand since November 2015 Kilian Gross was a member of the Cabinet of Commissioner Oettinger. Within the Cabinet, he was mainly responsible for the Commission anti-fraud policy, DG HR and at an earlier stage for various digital files.

Kilian Gross has started his career in the Commission in the Legal Service followed by five years in DG ENER where he worked on energy policy and on legal matters.

Kilian Gross
European Commission

Jean-Pierre Hubaux

Prof. Jean-Pierre Hubaux is the academic director of the EPFL Center for Digital Trust (C4DT). For its whole duration (April 2018 - December 2021), he led the national Data Protection in Personalized Health (DPPH) project. Until December 2021, he was a co-chair of the Data Security Work Stream of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH). From 2008 to 2019 he was one of the seven commissioners of the Swiss FCC. He is a Fellow of both IEEE and ACM.

Recent awards: three of his papers obtained distinctions at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, the flagship event on the topic (in 2015, 2018 and 2021). He is among the most cited researchers in privacy protection and in information security.

He is a co-founder of Tune Insight SA.

Jean-Pierre Hubaux
EPFL, Tune Insight

Tatiana Panteli

Tatiana is passionate about knowledge and people. That is why most of her career has been devoted to academia and working with great minds. Her studies include Philology (South Federal University), MBA (Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK), MSc in European Studies (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium), PRINCE2 and Innovation Management (Erasmus University Rotterdam). Being open-minded and curious, Tatiana travelled the world studying and working in such countries as Russia, the UK, Cyprus and Belgium. Tatiana also believes in the importance of living sustainably, supporting this professionally through involvement in Climate Change Solutions Ltd, UK and promoting sustainability as a guiding principle within EuroTech. Now Tatiana is proud to head the Brussels Office for six excellent EuroTech Universities. She also chairs EuroTech's EU Affairs and Gender Equality & Diversity Working Groups.

Tatiana Panteli
EuroTech Universities Alliance

Sveta Zinger

Dr. Sveta Zinger received her MSc in computer science in 2000 from the Radiophysics faculty of the Dnepropetrovsk State University, Ukraine. In 2004, she received a PhD from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications Paris, France, for her thesis on interpolation and resampling of 3D data. Sveta held several postdoc positions in France and the Netherlands in the area of digital image understanding and content based image retrieval. Currently, Sveta is an Associate Professor in the Eindhoven University of Technology. Her research concerns digital image analysis in healthcare.

Sveta published 180 papers in her research domain. In 2020 she established a new Elsevier journal “Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine Update” in which she is currently an editor-in-chief.

Sveta Zinger
Eindhoven University of Technology

Dive deeper

All six EuroTech Universities are active in research, innovation and education in topics related to artificial intelligence. From four of them you heard during the event. Find below two more examples. Furthermore, read our interview with Eva Maydell MEP, one of the main actors in the legislative process of the EU AI Act.

Interview with Eva Maydell MEP: “There is a strong political will to act on the topic of generative AI”

Eva Maydell is one of the main actors in the legislative process. Here, she outlines Parliament’s approach, explains the role of research and education in the AI Act, and defends the proposal against “too little, too late” concerns. Read more

TUM – Assessing AI-enabled solutions in urban settings from a socio-technical perspective

The “Ethics for the Smart City” project brings researchers from different scientific backgrounds and various external partners together and combines the engineering with a social sciences perspective. Read more

Collaboration framework agreement between the Technion and Pfizer

The collaboration framework signed earlier this year will serve to bring forward scientific breakthroughs at the interface between artificial intelligence and drug development. Read more

Get in touch

If you would like to know more about the capacities of the EuroTech Universities in the field of AI or are interested in a collaboration, send an e-mail to [email protected] – we are happy to assist you and put you in touch with a suitable contact person.