In the past few years, the EU has shown a growing commitment to address the rapid transformations brought about by the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) developments by increasing efforts in AI regulation. Nevertheless, despite the growing body of technical knowledge and progress, the governance of AI-intensive technologies remains dynamic and challenging. A mounting chorus of experts expresses reservations about an overemphasis on regulation in Europe. Among their core arguments is the concern that such an approach might hinder innovation within the AI arena. This concern resonates particularly strongly compared to the United States and Asia, where AI-driven innovation appears to be surging ahead, potentially leaving Europe behind. This paper emphasizes the need to balance certification and governance in AI to foster ethical innovation and enhance the reliability and competitiveness of European technology. It explores recent AI regulations and upcoming European laws, underscoring Europe’s role in the global AI landscape. The authors analyze European governance approaches and their impact on SMEs and startups, offering a comparative view of global regulatory efforts. The paper highlights significant global AI developments from the past year, focusing on Europe’s contributions. We address the complexities of creating a comprehensive, human-centred AI master’s programme for higher education. Finally, we discuss how Europe can seize opportunities to promote ethical and reliable AI progress through education, fostering a balanced approach to regulation and enhancing young professionals’ understanding of ethical and legal aspects.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology which is increasingly being utilised in society and the economy worldwide, but there is much disquiet over problematic and dangerous implementations of AI, or indeed even AI itself deciding to do dangerous and problematic actions. These developments have led to concerns about whether and how AI systems currently adhere to and will adhere to ethical standards, stimulating a global and multistakeholder conversation on AI ethics and the production of AI governance initiatives. Such developments form the basis for this chapter, where we give an insight into what is happening in Australia, China, the European Union, India and the United States. We commence with some background to the AI ethics and regulation debates, before proceedings to give an overview of what is happening in different countries and regions, namely Australia, China, the European Union (including national level activities in Germany), India and the United States. We provide an analysis of these country profiles, with particular emphasis on the relationship between ethics and law in each location. Overall we find that AI governance and ethics initiatives are most developed in China and the European Union, but the United States has been catching up in the last eighteen months.
Er is weinig aandacht voor het precies definiëren van kunstmatige intelligentie, ook wel artificiële intelligentie (AI). Door het bestaan van verschillende interpretaties en definities van AI is niet helemaal duidelijk wat een AI nu wel of niet kan. Met het woord intelligentie in de naam, en de indrukwekkende nieuwe systemen zoals ChatGPT die in 2022 in de markt kwam, ontstaat het beeld dat AI menselijke eigenschappen heeft. Het gevolg is dat AI wordt gebruikt als co-pilot, als digitaal vriendje of zelfs als alwetende. De mens of de AI, wie bepaalt nu eigenlijk? Of is AI als een collega met wie je goed kunt samenwerken? Tijd om nog eens goed te beschrijven wat AI is, hoe AI wordt ingezet en wat nodig is om AI een meerwaarde te geven en verantwoord te maken.
Due to the existing pressure for a more rational use of the water, many public managers and industries have to re-think/adapt their processes towards a more circular approach. Such pressure is even more critical in the Rio Doce region, Minas Gerais, due to the large environmental accident occurred in 2015. Cenibra (pulp mill) is an example of such industries due to the fact that it is situated in the river basin and that it has a water demanding process. The current proposal is meant as an academic and engineering study to propose possible solutions to decrease the total water consumption of the mill and, thus, decrease the total stress on the Rio Doce basin. The work will be divided in three working packages, namely: (i) evaluation (modelling) of the mill process and water balance (ii) application and operation of a pilot scale wastewater treatment plant (iii) analysis of the impacts caused by the improvement of the process. The second work package will also be conducted (in parallel) with a lab scale setup in The Netherlands to allow fast adjustments and broaden evaluation of the setup/process performance. The actions will focus on reducing the mill total water consumption in 20%.
The transition to a circular, resource efficient construction sector is crucial to achieve climate neutrality in 2050. Construction stillaccounts for 50% of all extracted materials, is responsible for 3% of EU’s waste and for at least 12% of Green House Gas emissions.However, this transition is lagging, the impact of circular building materials is still limited.To accelerate the positive impact of circulair building materials Circular Trust Building has analyzed partners’ circular initiatives andidentified 4 related critical success factors for circularity, re-use of waste, and lower emissions:1. Level of integration2. Organized trust3. Shared learning4. Common goalsScaling these success factors requires new solutions, skills empowering stakeholders, and joint strategies and action plans. Circular TrustBuilding will do so using the innovative sociotechnical transition theory:1.Back casting: integrating stakeholders on common goals and analyzing together what’s needed, what’s available and who cancontribute what. The result is a joint strategy and xx regional action plans.2.Agile development of missing solutions such a Circular Building Trust Framework, Regional Circular Deals, connecting digitalplatforms matching supply and demand3.Increasing institutional capacity in (de-)construction, renovation, development and regulation: trained professionals move thetransition forward.Circular Trust Building will demonstrate these in xx pilots with local stakeholders. Each pilot will at least realize a 25% reduction of thematerial footprint of construction and renovation
The energy transition is a highly complex technical and societal challenge, coping with e.g. existing ownership situations, intrusive retrofit measures, slow decision-making processes and uneven value distribution. Large scale retrofitting activities insulating multiple buildings at once is urgently needed to reach the climate targets but the decision-making of retrofitting in buildings with shared ownership is challenging. Each owner is accountable for his own energy bill (and footprint), giving a limited action scope. This has led to a fragmented response to the energy retrofitting challenge with negligible levels of building energy efficiency improvements conducted by multiple actors. Aggregating the energy design process on a building level would allow more systemic decisions to happen and offer the access to alternative types of funding for owners. “Collect Your Retrofits” intends to design a generic and collective retrofit approach in the challenging context of monumental areas. As there are no standardised approaches to conduct historical building energy retrofits, solutions are tailor-made, making the process expensive and unattractive for owners. The project will develop this approach under real conditions of two communities: a self-organised “woongroep” and a “VvE” in the historic centre of Amsterdam. Retrofit designs will be identified based on energy performance, carbon emissions, comfort and costs so that a prioritisation strategy can be drawn. Instead of each owner investing into their own energy retrofitting, the neighbourhood will invest into the most impactful measures and ensure that the generated economic value is retained locally in order to make further sustainable investments and thus accelerating the transition of the area to a CO2-neutral environment.
