How to worry wisely about artificial intelligence

Zanny Minton Beddoes Editor-in-chief The Economist. I am fascinated and awed by the new generative AI models popping up everywhere. But I have struggled with how to think about them. Should we be excited or anxious about this fast-moving technology—or both? The abilities of “large language models”—of the sort that power ChatGPT, a chatbot made by OpenAI—seem to have surprised everyone, including their creators. One recently passed the American Uniform Bar Examination, a fearsome test of lawyers’ skills, in the 90th percentile. Our aim with this week’s issue was to help make sense of it all. In a special, expanded Science and Technology section, our writers explain how large, creative AI models work, the ways they could go wrong and what capabilities they might gain next. They’ve done a superb job of describing complex concepts in a clear and accessible way, including with interactive diagrams in digital versions of the articles. In an accompanying essay we look to history—from the printing press to computer browsers—to understand how this technology might change the world. Our leader pages, meanwhile, weigh the risks and opportunities of AI. If you are a subscriber and enjoy this week’s deep-dive into artificial intelligence, you can sign up to our weekly Simply Science newsletter. The machines have not taken over entirely this week, however. I also recommend our deeply reported article on why conflicts are lasting longer. The escalating crisis in Sudan is shocking. Sadly, our analysis shows that it is part of a broader trend.

L’evento inaugurale di CENTAI – Center for Artificial Intelligence

Torino Martedì 28 febbraio alle 11.30 presso le Gallerie d’Italia di Torino si terrà Vοῦς/Nous, l’evento inaugurale delle attività di CENTAI, il centro di ricerca avanzata nel campo dell’Intelligenza Artificiale, nato dalla partnership tra Intesa Sanpaolo e un team di ricercatori. Protagonisti dell’incontro saranno Paolo Benanti, Presidente del Comitato Etico di CENTAI, Francesco Bonchi, Cofondatore e Direttore di Ricerca di CENTAI, Yamir Moreno, Direttore di Ricerca di CENTAI, e Antonio Valitutti, Amministratore Delegato di Isybank. A seguire si terrà la proiezione di Vοῦς/Nous, la video installazione immersiva che intitola l’evento, per raccontare la scienza e gli scienziati attraverso le interviste ai ricercatori del centro. Nei giorni successivi è previsto un ciclo di incontri intitolato Navigating the Research Frontier of AI and Complexity, che si terrà l’1 e il 2 marzo all’Auditorium del grattacielo Intesa Sanpaolo di Torino: una due giorni di conferenze, riservate agli addetti ai lavori, con i rappresentanti della comunità scientifica internazionale, per riflettere sulla mission di CENTAI. Nato nel marzo 2022, CENTAI si occupa di sviluppare nuove metodologie per l’analisi dei dati e soluzioni avanzate nell’ambito dell’AI, di cui usa e progetta strumenti innovativi che permettono di spingere i confini della ricerca applicata e fondativa in domini legati alle scienze dei sistemi complessi: l’obiettivo è innovare queste discipline oltre lo stato dell’arte, perseguendo una scienza guidata dalla curiosità e sviluppando metodologie affidabili, etiche e sostenibili.

Artificial Intelligence PoliMi: Boom del mercato italiano

Nonostante il difficile contesto internazionale, per il comparto dell’Intelligenza Artificiale il 2022 è stato un anno da record, caratterizzato dai continui progressi nelle capacità delle macchine e dagli exploit di Dall-E2 e ChatGPT che in poche settimane hanno coinvolto decine di milioni di utenti e mostrato al grande pubblico le potenzialità di questa tecnologia. In Italia, il mercato dell’AI nel 2022 ha raggiunto 500 milioni di euro, con una crescita di ben il 32% in un solo anno, di cui il 73% commissionato da imprese italiane (365 milioni di euro) e il 27% rappresentato da export di progetti (135 milioni di euro).A dimostrazione dell’ormai ampia diffusione di questa tecnologia, oggi il 61% delle grandi imprese italiane ha già avviato almeno un progetto di AI, 10 punti percentuali in più rispetto a cinque anni fa. E tra queste, il 42% ne ha più di uno operativo. Tra le PMI, invece, il 15% ha almeno un progetto di AI avviato (nel 2021 era il 6%), quasi sempre uno solo, ma una su tre ha in programma di avviarne di nuovi nei prossimi due anni.Il 93% degli italiani ha già sentito parlare di “Intelligenza Artificiale”,il 55% afferma che l’AI è molto presente nella quotidianità e circa 4 su 10 (37%) nella vita lavorativa. Non mancano però le perplessità: il 73% nutre dei timori, soprattutto sugli impatti sul mondo del lavoro, anche se solo il 19% della popolazione è fermamente contrario all’ingresso dell’Intelligenza Artificiale nelle attività professionali.Ad ogni modo, la gran parte degli utenti deve ancora sperimentarne le reali potenzialità. L’esperienza quotidiana degli italiani si concentra sugli assistenti virtuali e sui sistemi di Recommendation. In particolare, i chatbot – già utilizzati dall’81% – sono ormai diffusi quasi come gli assistenti vocali (83%). Cresce l’interesse verso le raccomandazioni ricevute da motori di AI per l’e-commerce e un utente su quattro ha realizzato un nuovo acquisto online dopo averli utilizzati.Sono i risultati della ricerca dell’Osservatorio Artificial Intelligence della School of Management del Politecnico di Milano*, presentata quest’oggi al convegno “Artificial Intelligence: l’era dell’implementazione!”.– La quota più significativa del mercato dell’Intelligenza Artificiale italiano (34%) è legata a soluzioni per analizzare ed estrarre informazioni dai dati (Intelligent Data Processing), soprattutto per realizzare previsioni in ambiti come la pianificazione aziendale, la gestione degli investimenti e le attività di budgeting. Ma è importante anche l’area di interpretazione del linguaggio, scritto o parlato, la cosiddetta Language AI (28%) a cui afferiscono, nella nostra classificazione, le classi di soluzioni NLP e Chatbot. In quest’area vi sono, ad esempio, le applicazioni di Generative AI come ChatGPT o DALL-E2, che consentono di estrarre ed elaborare automaticamente informazioni anche da documenti come atti giudiziari, contratti o polizze, o per analizzare le comunicazioni interne o esterne (es. mail, social network, web).

How open-source intelligence pierces the fog of Ukraine’s war

When I think back to the start of last year, the burning question then concerned Vladimir Putin. Would he really be so foolish—and aggressive—as to invade Ukraine? Many doubted it, up to the moment when Russian troops poured over the border. But a flood of detailed warnings from Western intelligence agencies, made available for all to see, turned out to be accurate. We are now in a period of OSINT, or open-source intelligence. (Our article on this, nearly a year ago, referred to Russia’s pre-war manoeuvres serving as a coming-out party for OSINT.) We’ve grown used to seeing footage from battles, sometimes shot by drones, as well as geotagged images filmed by soldiers themselves and then uploaded to social media. Add in satellite and other images, also shared online, and an interested amateur today may have the sort of timely and detailed information from the war that the best equipped generals, spies and political leaders could not have dreamt possible even a few years ago. What to make of the era of OSINT? Read (and watch) our new report on the topic, and a couple of lessons emerge. The new information does remove some murk and uncertainty from the battlefield. Unwittingly, soldiers with mobile phones and an internet connection have repeatedly helped their enemies to target them more effectively. Yet the fog of war has a way of settling again. One point I’ll take from the past 12 months: so much information gushes from the war zone, alongside carefully crafted propaganda from all sides, that OSINT may deflect and deceive as well as reveal. The fighting in Ukraine goes on. After weeks of tough fighting it appears that Russian forces managed to take a small eastern town, Soledar, that might be relevant for supplies to a nearby front. Western allies should send more heavy military equipment to support Ukraine. Britain has just said it will send Challenger tanks. Amid expectations that Russia may launch another round of conscription, other countries (notably Germany) will be pressed to send heavy tanks of their own. Do anniversaries matter? Only as excuses to write stories we’d planned in any case. So indulge us with one: Disney marks its hundredth birthday this year and appears to be in rude health. As we will set out in an article soon, it’s done remarkably well for so long by adapting to evolving media tech—from cinema to video to streaming. We’ll explain what lies behind that success (it’s more than Mickey and Marvel), and unpack reasons why Disney may struggle much harder to flourish in the coming few years. Elsewhere, my colleagues in the United States have been considering the incomes of Americans, and asking how sluggish gains in the median income might explain worsening political tensions. Read the article we’ve just published on this. Back in Britain, the woes of the National Health Service are always with us. We wrote recently about the plight of doctors there. But is Britain alone in its suffering? The health services of many rich countries are under strain, and not only (perhaps not mostly) for a lack of money. Have a read of our new analysis of the common challenges that many countries face. Last, if you’re looking for lighter relief, let me point you to a pair of pieces. One is our brief, and sharp, review of Prince Harry’s memoir. I (genuinely) laughed aloud while reading it. The prince didn’t write his book, at least not alone. So let me also recommend our profile of his ghostwriter, J.R. Moehringer, who has written a few memoirs on behalf of celebrities–they seem to share a theme. Thanks again for your thoughts about the rest of the year. Sally Ann Moore calls for companies (and others) to do more to boost gender equality, suggesting that 2023 should be the year when companies appoint more women to their boards, and the gender pay gap should decline. David Peduto in Colorado, USA, points out that Turkey also marks its hundredth birthday later this year, after national elections in the summer. He expects Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be set on extending his already long rule. Finally, Steve Thair argues that climate-change denialism is in effect dead because the average person “has seen enough weird weather in 2022” to realise that something serious is afoot. I hope you are right, Steve. Given the storms in California, and a strangely warm winter in Europe, it seems this year is already confirming the trend. By Adam Roberts Digital editor The Economist

What to read to understand intelligence and espionage

These are the best of times—and worst of times—to be a spy. Western intelligence reports, shared publicly and prominently before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, did much to complicate the Russian attack. In contrast Russian spies inside Ukraine badly misled their bosses in Moscow by suggesting that Kyiv would crumple without much fuss. Meanwhile, as Russian diplomats have been sent home from many countries, and sleeper agents exposed in some places, the lot of the secret agent has grown far trickier. How to understand this shadowy world? Turn, for a start, to our reading list of recommended books on espionage. Our defence editor—who has drawn, no doubt, on recommendations from some well-placed contacts—offers the pick of the bunch. If spies aren’t for you, then consider others in our Economist reads series, such as a guide to books on what it’s like to be in prison, on the lot of women in Japan or the best books to read to understand demography. Big population shifts are under way, as youthful India is poised to overtake ageing China as the most populous country and because Africa’s overall population is surging. You don’t need to be a spy to grasp that big changes are afoot. Adam Roberts Digital editor The Economist

Humanities & Intelligence: a Modena sapere scientifico e umanistico senza confini

Modena la giornata di venerdì 4 novembre è interamente dedicata a “Humanities & Intelligence”, con lezioni, esperienze, conversazioni tra il mondo dell’Intelligenza Artificiale e le discipline umanistiche. Gli appuntamenti della mattina si svolgono presso il Tecnopolo di Modena (via Vivarelli, 2) dove alle 9.30 si comincia con i saluti istituzionali del sindaco Giancarlo Muzzarelli, del rettore di Unimore Carlo Adolfo Porro e del presidente della Fondazione di Modena Paolo Cavicchioli. Apre poi i lavori Rita Cucchiara, Direttore del centro AIRI e Ordinario di Visione Artificiale e Sistemi Cognitivi presso l’Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, con un’introduzione ai progetti dedicati all’Intelligenza Artificiale per le Digital Humanities. Seguono quattro lezioni magistrali affidate a studiosi internazionali: Mubarak Shah, professore presso il centro di ricerca in Computer Vision della University of Central Florida (USA); Alberto Del Bimbo, docente presso l’Università degli Studi di Firenze e Direttore del MICC, Media Integration and Communication Center; Enrica Filippi, ingegnere di Google.com; Maurizio Ferraris, professore di filosofia teoretica presso l’Università degli Studi di Torino. Seguono tre spotlight, brevi interventi di ricercatori dell’Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia che si focalizzano sulle attività di ricerca in Digital Humanities portate avanti dal laboratorio Aimagelab. Marcella Cornia illustra la demo interattiva PersonArt, finalizzata al “face retrieval”, cioè la ricerca del volto più simile all’interno di un insieme di immagini: una tecnologia che può essere usata, ad esempio, per fare dialogare il pubblico di un museo con le opere esposte, dando al visitatore la possibilità di trovare i volti a lui più simili raffigurati nei dipinti esposti (la demo è stata installata presso le Gallerie Estensi di Modena durante il Festival della Filosofia 2019, raccogliendo più di 1100 visitatori in soli tre giorni). Silvia Cascianelli presenta il lavoro realizzato, in sinergia con il centro DHMoRe, nell’ambito della lettura automatica del manoscritto, focalizzato in particolare sui Codici Muratoriani e diverse lettere autografe di Giacomo Leopardi. Lorenzo Baraldi si concentra sull’integrazione di visione e linguaggio per la comprensione e la ricerca dei beni culturali: attraverso la sviluppo di reti neurali è possibile generare una descrizione testuale di una data immagine o trovare contenuti multimediali simili ad una data query in formato visuale o testuale. Nel pomeriggio tutti possono toccare con mano le esperienze e i progetti presentati nel corso della mattinata. A partire dalle 15.30 presso AGO (in Largo Porta S. Agostino, 228) l’appuntamento è con “Intelligenza Artificiale per l’Intelligenza Umana”, una serie di laboratori a cura di AimageLab e FEM che coinvolgono il pubblico in presentazioni interattive: i partecipanti hanno la possibilità di sperimentare la realtà virtuale, comprendere come lavorano le reti neurali applicate alle arti visuali e la lettura automatica di manoscritti, divertirsi con la demo PersonArt a cercare il proprio sosia tra dipinti storici. Alle 18 l’appuntamento è presso la Sala ex Cappella con il podcaster e giornalista Pablo Trincia che dialoga Matteo Al Kalak, Direttore del Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca sulle Digital Humanities DhMoRe su “Rivoluzione digitale. Le imprevedibili frontiere di un mondo connesso”. L’incontro si apre con i saluti istituzionali del Presidente della Regione Emilia-Romagna Stefano Bonaccini, dell’Assessore alla Cultura del Comune di Modena Andrea Bortolamasi e del Presidente della Fondazione di Modena Paolo Cavicchioli. Pablo Trincia è conosciuto in particolare per i suoi podcast, finestre digitali sul mondo, vere e proprie inchieste giornalistiche in stile radiofonico pensate per il web (tra queste Veleno che ricostruisce la vicenda di cronaca dei Diavoli della Bassa Modenese, Il Dito di Dio sul naufragio della Costa Concordia, e ora – disponibile da pochi giorni – Megapolis: Mumbai 2050 – sul tema del cambiamento climatico).Tutti gli appuntamenti della giornata “Humanities & Intelligence” sono gratuiti e a ingresso libero fino a esaurimento posti. È consigliata la prenotazione per i laboratori e per l’appuntamento serale sul sito agomodena.it

The Future of Artificial Intelligence

By Sam Harris. A Conversation with Eric Schmidt. In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Eric Schmidt about the ways artificial intelligence is shifting the foundations of human knowledge and posing questions of existential risk. Eric Schmidt is a technologist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He joined Google in 2001 where he served as chief executive officer and chairman from 2001 to 2011, and as executive chairman and technical advisor thereafter. Under his leadership, Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its product offerings while maintaining a culture of innovation. In 2017, he co-founded Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic initiative that bets early on exceptional people making the world better. He serves as chair of The Broad Institute, and formerly served as chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. He is the host of Reimagine with Eric Schmidt, a podcast exploring how society can build a brighter future after the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, he is the co-author of The Age of AI: And Our Human Future.

Francesco Massimiliano Minniti: Intelligence e sistema penitenziario

Indagini in una terra di confine Pianeta Carcere. Un modo di dire piuttosto noto per descrivere un universo per lo più sconosciuto. In effetti, nonostante la sempre maggiore apertura informativa, del sistema penitenziario – troppo spesso soffocato da stereotipi e luoghi comuni – si sa veramente poco. Il carcere è un luogo «diverso». Un luogo fisico, un luogo dell’anima, mai un luogo comune. Ancora meno si conosce dell’operato della Polizia Penitenziaria, della delicatezza e dell’importanza dei compiti ad essa demandati e delle grandi potenzialità investigative che le sono proprie. Questo testo cerca di offrire una visione quanto più lucida possibile del sistema penitenziario e delle attività di indagine della Polizia Penitenziaria che hanno come denominatore il «carcere», tentando di ricostruire una mappa di un sistema organico di intelligence in cui il settore penitenziario si innesti a pieno titolo, offrendo panorami investigativi e informativi di elevato profilo. Rubbettino Editore.

Al via gli Stati Generali dell’Intelligence Economica e del Security Management

Roma. Online venerdì 11 giugno 2021 (ore 10:00-17:00) Nel proseguire il percorso, avviato nel 2010, di promozione, didattica e ricerca sul tema dell’”Intelligence Economica”, il CeSIntES – Centro di Studi e Ricerche interdisciplinare del Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Impresa “Mario Lucertini” dell’Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”, che svolge attività di ricerca e formazione di eccellenza sui temi dell’Intelligence Economica e Security Management – ha organizzato per l’intera giornata di Venerdì 11 giugno 2021 la nuova edizione degli “Stati Generali dell’Intelligence Economica e del Security management”, in modalità webinar, sul tema della “uscita dal tunnel”, con la media partnership dell’agenzia di stampa DIRE. Il tunnel è evidentemente quello della pandemia, che impone ad Aziende e Sistema-Paese di essere resilienti da un punto di vista sia sanitario sia economico. Resilienza non come ripristino di situazioni precedenti alla pandemia, ma come “disruption” per ripartire con quanto di buono esisteva, azzerare quel che non funzionava, e concentrare risorse, know how e capacità di innovazione, per una riprogettazione della società e dei suoi equilibri, soprattutto economici ed occupazionali.Gli Stati Generali dell’11 giugno coinvolgeranno esperti e rappresentanti di Istituzioni ed Aziende per apportare alla discussione conoscenza e competenze che spazino dagli aspetti relativi alla convivenza in sicurezza durante la prossima fase della pandemia, fino alle risposte che il sistema deve dare in termini di sicurezza economica e di competitività economica delle proprie aziende. Tra i relatori ad ora confermati: Bernardo Argiolas (PCM, Coordinatore Servizio attività propedeutiche all’esercizio dei poteri speciali); Isabella Corradini (CeSIntES, Centro Ricerche Themis Presidente e Direttore Scientifico); Luisa Franchina (CeSIntES, Partner Hermes Bay); Barbara Martini (Tor Vergata, Professore Aggregato di Ingegneria); Francesco Ceccarelli (ENEL, Head Security governance and Business intelligence); Angelo Spena (CeSIntES, Professore Ordinario Ingegneria Tor Vergata); Nicola Bonaccini (CeSIntES, Esperto di comunicazione integrata); Gianluca Ansalone (Novartis Italia, Head of Public Affairs); Massimo Marrocco (CeSIntES – AIPROS, Presidente); Giuseppe Accardi (CeSIntES – COOPSERVICE, Direttore Area Centro Italia); Pierluigi Pelargonio (CeSIntES – SKY, Responsabile Security); Fabrizio Di Staso (ATAC, Responsabile Security); Massimo Giannini (CeSIntES, Coordinatore); Francesco Farina (CeSIntES, Direttore). L’edizione 2021 degli Stati Generali dell’intelligence economica e del security management sarà dedicata al ricordo di Bruno Pellero, che tanto entusiasmo e tanti contenuti ha messo nella realizzazione delle precedenti edizioni ed in generale nelle iniziative del CeSIntES.

Intelligence Week: dal 17 al 22 maggio

Con il patrocinio di Regione Lombardia, una sei giorni di incontri e dibattiti sul mondo tecnologico e dell’innovazione digitale: l’Intelligence Week è l’evento web dedicato a pubblica amministrazione, imprese e società di settore; protagonisti i massimi esperti, politici ed opinion leaders. Dalla sanità all’agricoltura, dall’energia alla sicurezza e mobilità: come verranno stravolti dall’intelligenza artificiale questi ambiti? Sono tre le macro aree che verranno trattate durante i 27 talk del programma: Intelligence, Geopolitica, Tecnologia. Durante l’I-Week si incontreranno policy e decision makers, imprenditori, innovatori, giornalisti per fare il punto sul presente ed una diagnosi sul futuro. Obiettivo: il rilancio del nostro Paese. Per i saluti istituzionali un messaggio della Presidente del Senato Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, e l’intervento di Giampaolo Azzoni, Prorettore dell’Università degli Studi di Pavia, e di Gianmarco Senna, Presidente Commissione Attività Produttive di Regione Lombardia. Tra i rappresentanti istituzionali ed esponenti della politica: Teresa Bellanova, Alessandra Todde, Maria Virginia Tiraboschi, Enrico Borghi, Marco Minniti, Raffaele Volpi, Adolfo Urso, Emanuele Fiano, Angelo Tofalo, Marianna Vintiadis, Carlo Robiglio, Stefano Besseghini, Lorenzo Mariani, Alberto Dell’Acqua, Marco Gay, Emanuele Marcianò, Massimo Moggi, Massimiliano Santoro, Giuliano Tomiazzo, Italo Soncini, Giuliana Paoletti, Michele Perrino.L’evento, organizzato da V&A SB, con la collaborazione dell’Associazione Culturale Corte Sconta e di Dune, è gratuito e aperto a tutti: anche ai vostri lettori! Per iscriversi basta cliccare su https://i-week.it/ e scegliere i talk ai quali assistere.

Parliament leads the way on first set of EU rules for Artificial Intelligence

Bruxelles. On Tuesday, MEPs adopted proposals on how the EU can best regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI) in order to boost innovation, ethical standards and trust in technology. The European Parliament is among the first institutions to put forward recommendations on what AI rules should include with regards to ethics, liability and intellectual property rights. These recommendations will pave the way for the EU to become a global leader in the development of AI. The Commission legislative proposal is expected early next year. The legislative initiative by Iban García del Blanco (S&D, ES) urges the EU Commission to present a new legal framework outlining the ethical principles and legal obligations to be followed when developing, deploying and using artificial intelligence, robotics and related technologies in the EU including software, algorithms and data. It was adopted with 559 votes in favour, 44 against, and 88 abstentions.Future laws should be made in accordance with several guiding principles, including: a human-centric and human-made AI; safety, transparency and accountability; safeguards against bias and discrimination; right to redress; social and environmental responsibility; and respect for privacy and data protection.High-risk AI technologies, such as those with self-learning capacities, should be designed to allow for human oversight at any time. If a functionality is used that would result in a serious breach of ethical principles and could be dangerous, the self-learning capacities should be disabled and full human control should be restored.The legislative initiative by Axel Voss (EPP, DE) calls for a future-oriented civil liability framework, making those operating high-risk AI strictly liable for any resulting damage. A clear legal framework would stimulate innovation by providing businesses with legal certainty, whilst protecting citizens and promoting their trust in AI technologies by deterring activities that might be dangerous.The rules should apply to physical or virtual AI activity that harms or damages life, health, physical integrity, property, or that causes significant immaterial harm if it results in “verifiable economic loss”. While high-risk AI technologies are still rare, MEPs believe that their operators should hold insurance similar to that used for motor vehicles.The legislative initiative was adopted with 626 votes in favour, 25 against, and 40 abstentions.

Libro: “Quantum intelligence”

E’ Il libro di Caligiuri e Rocco che anticipa la prossima rivoluzione tecnologica. “Quantum intelligence. Le nuove frontiere dell’informazione per Stati, aziende e persone” è un innovativo libro pubblicato da Rubbettino e scritto da Mario Caligiuri, Presidente della Società Italiana di Intelligence, e da Luigi Rucco, consulente sulla Research Intelligence per una nota azienda nel settore della ricerca scientifica. Si tratta di un saggio di intelligence che, sostengono gli autori, prova ad anticipare quanto presto avremo sotto gli occhi per effetto di quella che viene definita come la “seconda rivoluzione quantistica”. “La Quantum information science – ricordano Caligiuri e Rucco – è un fenomeno di grande importanza, che inciderà in maniera significativa sulle nostre vite. Rappresenta l’utilizzo dei principi della meccanica quantistica per la realizzazione di elaboratori con nuove e potentissime capacità di calcolo, nonché meccanismi di crittografia teoricamente inviolabili”. Secondo gli autori “si verificherà una radicale trasformazione che riguarderà la sicurezza delle informazioni e l’intelligenza artificiale progredirà a ritmi ancora più elevati. Gli algoritmi quantistici determineranno notevoli avanzamenti in diversi settori strategici, come la farmaceutica e la finanza, la logistica e l’energia, la difesa e l’ICT. Se l’impatto di queste tecnologie sarà positivo o negativo, molto dipenderà dalle decisioni che verranno assunte dalle istituzioni politiche, a loro volta influenzate dalle analisi di intelligence che incideranno sia nel settore pubblico che in quello privato, e quindi per ogni singola persona”. In questo quadro, concludono “emerge pienamente il ruolo fondamentale dell’intelligence per affrontare la grande trasformazione già in atto ma della quale ancora non abbiamo percezione”. Il volume è il diciottesimo titolo della Collana del Laboratorio sull’Intelligence dell’Università della Calabria. Mario Caligiuri è professore ordinario all’Università della Calabria. Presidente della Società Italiana di Intelligence, è considerato uno dei massimi esperti europei del settore a livello accademico.Luigi Rocco è consulente sulla ricerca scientifica per uno dei maggiori fornitori di servizi internazionali del settore, seguendo clienti istituzionali in ambito governativo e accademico in Italia, Israele, Francia, Belgio e altri Paesi del Sud Europa.

Making Artificial Intelligence ethical, safe and innovative

MEPs approved proposals to address long-term opportunities and legal challenges posed by AI in the area of ethics, civil liability and intellectual property. The Legal Affairs Committee adopted three reports on Thursday on specific issues linked to the increased development and use of artificial intelligence systems. The Commission is expected to put forward a legislative proposal on the matter in early 2021. The legislative initiative by Iban García del Blanco (S&D, ES) urges the EU Commission to present a new legal framework outlining the ethical principles to be used when developing, deploying and using artificial intelligence, robotics and related technologies in the EU, including software, algorithms and data.MEPs adopted proposals on several guiding principles that must be taken into account by future laws including a human-centric, human-made and human-controlled AI; safety, transparency and accountability; safeguards against bias and discrimination; right to redress; social and environmental responsibility, and respect for fundamental rights. When it comes to AI with machine-learning (self-improving) capacities, it should be designed to allow for human oversight. If a functionality is used that would entail a serious breach of ethical principles and be potentially dangerous for people, the self-learning capacities should be disabled and revert to operating safely.The legislative initiative by Axel Voss (EPP, DE) calls for a future-oriented civil liability framework to be adapted, making those operating high-risk AI strictly liable if there is damage caused. This would encourage innovation by providing businesses with legal certainty, protect citizens better and enhance their trust in AI technologies by deterring risky activities. Strict liability should also apply to AI systems that have repeatedly caused damage.In this text, MEPs focused on civil liability claims against operators of AI-systems. The liability would cover protection of life, health, physical integrity, property as well as significant immaterial harm if it results in “verifiable substantial economic loss”.The report by Stéphane Séjourné (Renew Europe, FR) underlines that the key issue of protecting intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the context of artificial intelligence has so far not been addressed by the EU Commission and calls for an impact assessment on the matter.The report stresses that EU global leadership in AI requires an effective intellectual property system and safeguards for the EU’s patent system to protect developers. MEPs specify that AI should not have legal personality, thus “inventorship” should be only granted to humans. The text further addressed copyright, protection of trade secrets and the distinction between IPR for the development of AI technologies and IPR potentially granted on creations generated by AI.Technical Support Instrument adopted by Budget and Economic and Monetary Affairs committees The Technical Support Instrument will help member states to prepare their recovery and resilience plans, which are required to access funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.The text, adopted jointly on Thursday evening by BUDG and ECON committees MEPs, lays down the general and specific objectives of the Technical Support Instrument (TSI), the budget for the period 2021-27, the types of funding accessible through the EU and the rules for receiving such funding. The TSI should support economic recovery after and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic by promoting economic, social and territorial cohesion as well as green and digital transformation and implementation of climate targets. The reforms supported by the instrument should result in more economic resilience, a reduction in poverty, increased competitiveness and should address the country-specific recommendations adopted in the context of the European Semester. In order to meet the general objectives, the TSI will assist national authorities in preparing, implementing, revising and improving their national recovery and resilience plans. The text sets out a list of key actions to be carried out by member states, such as digitalisation of administrative structures, creating re-skilling policies for the labour market and building resilient care systems and coordinated response capabilities. The overall budget of the TSI should be EUR 1 450 000 000 in current prices, divided into two tranches, EUR 1 000 000 000 for the period 2021-2024 and EUR 450 000 000 for 2025-2027 in current prices.In order to receive technical support, a member state should submit a request to the Commission by 31 October of a calendar year, identifying the policy areas they will focus on. Member states should ensure synergies between the TSI and other EU programmes in order to avoid any duplication and overlaps.Technical support should depend on fully complying with the rules to protect the Union’s budget from generalised deficiencies as regards the rule of law in the member states, says the text. TransparencyMEPs want the Parliament to obtain from the Commission the plans followed by biannual implementation reports at the same time as the Council for the purposes of democratic accountability and visibility of European Union action. The report was adopted with 74 votes to 10 and 13 abstentions and the decision to enter inter-institutional negotiations was adopted with 75 votes to 8 and 14

New committee on Artificial Intelligence begins its work

On Wednesday, Parliament’s new special committee on Artificial intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA) held its constitutive meetings and elected its chairs and vice-chairs.Committee members elected Dragoș Tudorache (Renew, RO) as Chair, by acclamation. The bureau will be composed of:First Vice-Chair: Miapetra Kumpula-Natri (S&D, FI), Second Vice-Chair: Geoffroy Didier (EPP, FR), Third Vice-Chair: Edina Tóth (EPP, HU), Fourth Vice-Chair: Birgit Sippel (S&D, DE)“The digital transformation, besides the tremendous benefits it can bring to our citizens, is also an opportunity to strengthen the European Union and to build up our strategic resilience in the face of adversity. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of this transformation”, said Dragoș Tudorache.“My first priority will be to ensure that we build and support AI that works for the wellbeing of our citizens. This means, on the one hand, respecting their rights and eliminating biases and discrimination, and it means, on the other hand, ensuring business and industry thrive and generate economic prosperity. We also have an opportunity in AIDA to look at AI diplomacy and at how we can support a European approach to AI on the world scene, alongside likeminded partners who share our values. Last but not least, AIDA plans to look beyond regulation, working on a medium- and long-term strategic plan for AI in Europe”, he added.The Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age is composed of 33 members. It is mandated to analyse the future impact of artificial intelligence in the digital age on the EU economy, in particular on skills, employment, financial technology, education, health, transport, tourism, agriculture, the environment, defence, industry, energy and e-government. The Committee will hold its first working meeting during the week of 26-30 October.

COVID-19: Data and Artificial Intelligence can help ease lockdowns

Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) Chair Cristian Bușoi reacted on Thursday to the Commission recommendation to support lockdown exit strategies through mobile data and apps.
“As soon as the epidemic wave will be behind us, we’ll need to move away from the logic of containments. But easing the lockdowns and getting back to normal will be a huge technical and organisational challenge as the virus will still be among us. We are in favour of making use of the possibilities offered by mobile and data applications, and we support the approach proposed by the Commission” said ITRE Chair Cristian Bușoi (EPP, RO).“In order to overcome this unprecedented crisis, we must test new solutions and make use of innovation and research. Various methods have been used by some countries, with contrasting results. We need to look at what has already been tried, and work according to our principles. We also need to make sure that European citizens are on board. The problem to be solved is to find an effective and efficient way of understanding how the virus spreads and being able to deploy strategies adapted to the different territories” he said.The European Commission proposes a common approach for modelling and predicting the evolution of the virus through anonymised and aggregated mobile location data. “Such use of data must of course take place at European level, because that is where the data will have the critical mass to be effective. We will therefore be vigilant concerning user consent and data protection. We welcome the fact that the European Commission is closely working with the European Data Protection Board” he added.

MEPs to look into Artificial Intelligence in criminal law

Bruxelles Thursday, 20 February, from 14.00 to 17.30 European Parliament, Antall building, room 4Q2 The use of Artificial Intelligence by the police and judicial authorities, including facial recognition, will be discussed by the Civil Liberties Committee on Thursday.
The hearing will focus on the benefits and risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the criminal law framework, predictive policing, facial recognition, as well as the ethical and fundamental rights implications. The list of speakers includes representatives from the Council of Europe, the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). Experts from academia, think tanks and civil society will also speak at the hearing.

Artificial intelligence: MEPs want to ensure a fair and safe use for consumers

The resolution addresses several challenges arising from the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and automated decision-making (ADM) technologies, with a special focus on consumer protection.Parliament welcomes the potential of ADM to deliver innovative and improved services to consumers, including new digital services such as virtual assistants and chatbots. However, when interacting with a system that automates decision-making, one should be “properly informed about how it functions, about how to reach a human with decision-making powers, and about how the system’s decisions can be checked and corrected”, it adds.Those systems should only use high-quality and unbiased data sets and “explainable and unbiased algorithms”, states the resolution. Review structures should be set up to remedy possible mistakes in automated decisions. It should also be possible for consumers to seek redress for automated decisions that are final and permanent. “Humans must always be ultimately responsible for, and able to overrule, decisions that are taken in the context of professional services such as the medical, legal and accounting professions, and for the banking sector”, MEPs underline.Parliament calls for a risk-assessment scheme for AI and ADM and for a common EU approach to help secure the benefits of those processes and mitigate the risks across the EU. MEPs urge the Commission to table proposals adapting the EU’s safety rules for products (e.g. directives on machinery and toy safety) to ensure that consumers are informed about how to use those products and are protected from harm, while manufacturers should be clear on their obligations.The Product Liability Directive, adopted over 30 years ago, would also need to be revised to adapt concepts such as ‘product’, damage’, ‘defect’ and rules governing the burden of proof, says Parliament.
Under EU law, traders must inform consumers when the price of goods or services has been personalised on the basis of ADM and profiling of consumer behaviour, MEPs recall, asking the Commission to closely monitor the implementation of those rules. The EU must also ensure that ADM is not unduly being used to discriminate against consumers based on their nationality, place of residence or temporary location.The resolution, approved by a show of hands, will be transmitted to the EU Council (member states) and the Commission, so that they take into account MEPs’ views on AI and ADM. The Commission announced that it is due to present its plans for a European approach to AI on 19 February 2020.

Artificial intelligence: EU must ensure a fair and safe use for consumers

Bruxelles. Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee approved on Thursday a resolution addressing several challenges arising from the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and automated decision-making (ADM) technologies.
When consumers interact with an ADM system, they should be “properly informed about how it functions, about how to reach a human with decision-making powers, and about how the system’s decisions can be checked and corrected”, says the committee.
Those systems should only use high-quality and unbiased data sets and “explainable and unbiased algorithms” in order to boost consumer trust and acceptance, states the resolution. Review structures should be set up to remedy possible mistakes in automated decisions. It should also be possible for consumers to seek human review of, and redress for, automated decisions that are final and permanent.“Humans must always be ultimately responsible for, and able to overrule, decisions” that are taken via ADM processes, especially in relation to the medical, legal and accounting professions and the banking sector, MEPs underline.
AI-enabled products may evolve and act in ways not envisaged when they were first placed on the market. MEPs urge the Commission to table proposals adapting the EU’s safety rules for products (e.g. directives on machinery and toy safety) to ensure that consumers are protected from harm, manufacturers are clear on their obligations and users are informed about how to use those products.The Product Liability Directive, adopted over 30 years ago, would also need to be updated to adapt concepts such as ‘product’ ‘damage’ and ‘defect’ as well as rules governing the burden of proof, says the committee.MEPs call for a risk-assessment scheme for AI and ADM and for a common EU approach to help secure the benefits of those processes and mitigate the risks across the EU.Under EU law, traders must inform consumers when the price of goods or services has been personalised on the basis of ADM, MEPs recall, asking the Commission to closely monitor the implementation of those rules. It must also check how the EU regulation banning unjustified geo-blocking is applied to ensure that ADM is not being used to discriminate against consumers based on their nationality, place of residence or temporary location.

I vincitori dell’hackathon AIRtificial Intelligence di Leonardo e Aeronautica Militare

Il team TORNADO è stato eletto vincitore dalla Giuria al termine delle 48 ore che hanno visto sfidarsi ben nove gruppi nella realizzazione di soluzioni di assistenza virtuale per ottimizzare gli interventi manutentivi e addestrativi applicabili ai sistemi aeronautici, il tutto grazie all’intelligenza artificiale. Il team TORNADO, premiato dal Generale Giovanni Fantuzzi, rappresentava una start-up pisana nata dallo spin-off di un’azienda già operante nel settore dell’automazione industriale. Secondo classificato – che ha ricevuto anche la menzione speciale per la capacità di saper fare squadra – è stato il team AVANTI composto da candidati che si sono iscritti singolarmente e che hanno accettato di organizzarsi in un gruppo di lavoro.
All’iniziativa “AIRtificial Intelligence” di Leonardo e dell’Aeronautica Militare, che si è avvalsa della partnership tecnologica di Oracle, hanno partecipato: 40 tra start up, sviluppatori e ricercatori, 70 tra mentor, tutor e personale di supporto che hanno collaborato all’iniziativa, con 9 proposte prototipali presentate suddivise in 3 categorie di use case. Le soluzioni più promettenti emerse dall’hackathon saranno sperimentate e sviluppate da subito per mettere – in breve tempo – a disposizione dei manutentori aeronautici strumenti e tecnologie efficaci e all’avanguardia.
“Intelligenza Artificiale e Machine Learning sono e saranno tecnologie sempre più pervasive, non solo in ambito militare ma anche in quello civile. In Oracle queste tecnologie sono studiate e applicate da tempo, sia ad esempio per evitare l’errore umano – come nel caso del “Autonomous Database” – sia per prendere decisioni informate dai dati, per esempio nell’ambito manutentivo e addestrativo come è emerso nell’hackathon. – ha commentato Alessandro Ippolito, Technology Country Leader di Oracle Italia, intervenuto all’evento. “Per le realtà che operano in mondo sempre più ‘data driven’ si aprono quindi nuove frontiere e opportunità di crescita e sviluppo. Per Oracle AI e ML rappresentano un fattore non sostitutivo ma abilitante del potenziale umano e della società, perché sono a sostegno delle persone per lavorare e vivere meglio, prendere decisioni meglio informate, evitare errori e lavorare in modo meno ripetitivo e più soddisfacente.”

Almirall and Iktos announce research collaboration in Artificial Intelligence for new drug design

Almirall, S.A. (ALM), a leading skin-health focused global pharmaceutical company, and Iktos, a company specialized in Artificial Intelligence for novel drug design, today announced a collaboration agreement in Artificial Intelligence (AI) , where Iktos generative modelling AI technology will be used to design novel optimized compounds, to speed up the identification of promising drug candidates for an undisclosed Almirall drug discovery program(s).Iktos’ AI technology, based on deep generative models, helps bring speed and efficiency to the drug discovery process, by automatically designing virtual novel molecules that have the desirable characteristics of a novel drug candidate. This tackles one of the key challenges in drug design: rapid and iterative identification of molecules which simultaneously validate multiple bioactive attributes and drug-like criteria for clinical testing.Iktos has recently announced several collaborations with biopharmaceutical companies where Iktos AI technology is used to accelerate the design of promising compounds, and has published, at the EFMC 2018 meeting, an experimental validation of the technology in a real-life drug discovery project. Iktos generative modelling SaaS software, Makya™, is now available on the market, and Iktos intends to release its retro-synthesis SaaS platform Spaya™ as a beta version, before the end of 2019.