A Guide to real-life International Artificial Intelligence Policies in 2025

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• Demetrius A. Floudas. Senior Associate ( Hughes Hall)
• Friday 04 October 2024, 09:00-10:00
• Fadi Boustany Lecture Theatre, Cambridge Judge Business School.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact D. A. Floudas.

Part of the 2024 Induction Conference for the M.Phil. in Technology Policy of the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

Abstract

The transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to alter the social, economic and ideological fabric of the world is vast. AI development and implementation are rapidly advancing, already infiltrating institutions, infrastructure, products, and services, often imperceptibly to users.

Any current regulatory framework is obviously inadequate to address the unique hazards posed by AI. Globally, governments are revising existing laws and introducing new ones to mitigate AI risks, focusing on establishing preventative, risk-based safeguards that span the AI supply chain and lifecycle. To harness innovative applications, a contemporary and effective policy system is essential.

The public expects governments to ensure the safety and security of AI systems. Governments play a pivotal role in fostering public trust in AI and creating an environment that promotes its safe and responsible use while minimising associated risks.

Internationally, the previous months have seen radical changes in AI policy and regulation. Notable actions in 2024 include:

• The British Government announcing plans to introduce an AI bill.
• The EU AI Act entering into force in August.
• The UN General Assembly’s unanimous passage of the first global resolution on AI in March.
• The Council of Europe’s framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, the first international legally binding treaty of its kind.

Unfortunately, the policy measures adopted are approximately 4 years backdated and will be of no help to the upcoming issues that will emerge. They concentrate on very much contemporary and acute but ultimately manageable problems (privacy, bias, environment, competition, wealth inequality, disinformation, labour crisis) whilst largely ignoring intractable issues that are bound to appear within the next half-decade. Such regulations do not take any consideration of the longer-term risks, ethical dilemmas, social quandaries and governance challenges that will arise with further AI development:

1. Algorithmic governance: The risks associated with increasing reliance on AI systems for decision-making in government, administration, justice & law enforcement.
2. Cultural homogenisation: The risk of AI systems eroding cultural diversity and local knowledge systems through global standardization of information and decision-making processes.
3. Cognitive and sociological impacts: The long-term effects of widespread AI integration on human cognition, social interactions, and psychological well-being. (AI romantic partners, resurrected AI persons etc.)
4. Geopolitical hazards: The potential for AI to exacerbate international tensions, contstrain human détente agendas and precipitate strategic escalation cascades.
5. Existential risks:, The potential long-term risks of advanced AI systems surpassing human-level intelligence and control and thus triggering catastrophic outcomes for mankind.

About the speaker:

Demetrius A. Floudas is a transnational lawyer, a legal adviser specialising in tech and an AI regulatory & policy theorist. With extensive experience, he has counselled governments, corporations, and start-ups on regulatory aspects of policy and technology. He serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Law Faculty of Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, where he lectures on Artificial Intelligence Regulation. Moreover, he is a Fellow of the Hellenic Institute of International & Foreign Law and a practicing lawyer. He has also worked for many years as a Policy & Geopolitical Adviser to cabinet-level decision-makers for several governments and consulted numerous international think-tanks, businesses and organisations.

In addition, D. Floudas has regularly provided incisive commentary on matters of Geopolitics, Foreign Affairs & International Relations to a number of respected international outlets, with his views frequently appearing in the media worldwide (BBC TV & Radio, Voice of America, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Washington Post, Politico and others)

He is currently involved in the European AI Office’s Plenary drafting the Code of Practice for General-Purpose Artificial Intelligence and a member of the EUAI Working Group for AI Systemic Risks. He also participates in the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology Focus Group on an independent UK AI Safety Office and is a Reviewer of the Draft UNESCO Guidelines for the Use of AI Systems in Courts and Tribunals.

Demetrius Floudas is actively engaged in catastrophic risks mitigation policy & analysis and is the Editor of the ‘Nuclear War’ Section of the PhilPapers academic repository. He serves as the Senior Adviser to the Cambridge Existential Risk Initiative.

This talk is part of the Centre for Research in Contemporary Problems series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• * Centre for Research in Contemporary Problems - Consolidated Seminar List *
• Centre for Research in Contemporary Problems
• Fadi Boustany Lecture Theatre, Cambridge Judge Business School

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