Who controls AI - the legality and ethics?

While the Bletchley Agreement marked the first global AI safety summit, it's clear that AI is one of the most complex and challenging of human creations and is becoming more powerful and consequential to our daily lives. While politicians aim to shape and regulate AI, it's a handful of big tech companies in the driving seat.

So, who is factoring in accountability and genuine deliberation by the public? How do we regulate without stifling innovation? Who defines what is ethical and non-ethical AI and how do we ensure democratic global buy-in on any regulations?

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Chair: Maggie Chapman MSP, Scotland’s Futures Forum

Panellists: 

Dr Dan McQuillan is a lecturer in Creative and Social Computing, Goldsmiths University, London. After a Ph.D in Experimental Particle Physics, Dan worked with people with learning disabilities & mental health issues, created websites with asylum seekers, ran social innovation camps in Georgia, Armenia & Kyrgyzstan, and led a citizen science project in Kosova. He also worked in digital roles in both Amnesty International and the NHS. He is the author of Resisting AI - An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence' and is currently AI co-lead for the ESRC-funded Centre for Sociodigital Futures.

Steph Wright is the Head of Scottish AI Alliance and leads The Data Lab Team. She is a data science enthusiast with experience in the healthcare domain. She has a diverse background ranging from astrophysics to genomics in academia and film & TV to dance in the arts and the third sector. Steph led on Data Lab’s efforts in support of the Scottish Government in developing Scotland’s AI Strategy and she’s now excited to help deliver the strategy’s vision for Scotland to be a leader in the development and use of trustworthy, ethical and inclusive AI.

Stuart Munro has been a solicitor for over thirty years. He's the managing director of Livingstone Brown in Glasgow, is a solicitor advocate, and is Convener of the Law Society of Scotland's Criminal Law Committee. He has a longstanding interest in IT and the legal profession, and is a member of the Society's Technology Law & Practice Committee.