JBCE held the panel discussion “AI Governance for Competitiveness, Human Rights and Safety” at CEATEC (Japan’s biggest online exhibition of Cyber Physical Systems/IoT). Policy officers and Industrial, Academy Representatives both from the EU and Japan discussed AI governance in the new era to figure out how to strengthen bilateral and international cooperation.

First, Mr. Takuya Izumi (Director, of Information Policy Planning at Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan) introduced what Japanese government does to establish AI governance in Japan. He also introduced an innovative structure called “Governance Innovation” which would be a desirable governance framework for Society 5.0.

Mr. Eric Badiqué (Adviser for AI, DG-Connect, the European Commission) made the presentation following Mr. Izumi to explain what the EU was working on. He underlined the right balance between maximizing benefits and minimizing risks of AI. The EU Commission wants to prioritise investing in the technology and making sure European industry can benefit from it. The EU Commission is now preparing an impact assessment which will come with the proposal and a revised coordinated AI plan for Member States.   

In the following discussion, all panelists gave us very important key messages which promoted our discussion and made it fruitful.

Prof. Barry O’Sullivan (Director, Insight Center for Data Analytics, University College Cork, Ireland) who was the Vice-Chair of the European Commission High-Level Expert Group (HLEG) on AI said that one of challenges AI was creating was that there would never be a precise definition of AI and this was a reason why the work of the EU-Japan joint committee on AI would be extremely important.

Mr. Junichi Arahori (Head of Digital Technology Promotion Legal Office, Legal, IP & Internal Control Unit, Fujitsu Ltd.) explained Fujitsu’s AI ethics guidelines. He emphasised the need for a soft law approach, as the third AI boom only started 10 years ago and the technology would need time to develop.

Mr. Takashi Egawa (Corporate Technology Division, Standardization Promotion Department, NEC Corporation) emphasised the need to first define better what was risk. Based on the understanding that people would be very poor at predicting the future, he also said that we should try not to develop too detailed standards from the beginning, especially when dealing with something so new as AI.

Mr. David Sadek (VP Research, Technology & Innovation, Thales S.A.) reiterated their willingness to not slow down technological development despite operating in a high-risk sector. In terms of collaboration with governments, he mentioned the work of the Global Partnership on AI and the efforts made to comply with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs).

Every panelist agreed on the need for a multi-layered/multifaceted discussion to foster the international cooperation on AI.

JBCE continues to be committed to bridge the EU and Japan’s AI policies, and looks forward to continuing to foster close cooperation in this field together with EU-Japan policy makers and industry.

*With the following links, you can watch the archived video of the panel discussion until 31st December 2020.

(English) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtnpJjTR7Vw

(Japanese) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN8rss_dAXM

For more information please contact:
Takenobu Kurihara
Policy Manager (Digital Innovation)
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