“There is no question in my mind that artificial intelligence needs to be regulated. The question is how best to approach this”
Google’s chief executive called for a balanced approach to regulating artificial intelligence, telling a European audience that the technology brings benefits but also “negative consequences”.
Sundar Pichai’s comments come as lawmakers and governments seriously consider putting limits on how artificial intelligence is used.
“There is no question in my mind that artificial intelligence needs to be regulated. The question is how best to approach this,” Pichai said.
He noted that there’s an important role for governments to play and that as the European Union and the US start drawing up their own approaches to regulation, “international alignment” of any eventual rules will be critical. He did not provide specific proposals.
Pichai spoke on the same day he was scheduled to meet the EU’s powerful competition regulator, Margrethe Vestager.
Vestager has in previous years hit the Silicon Valley giant with multibillion-dollar fines for allegedly abusing its market dominance to choke off competition. After being reappointed for a second term last autumn with expanded powers over digital technology policies, Vestager has now set her sights on artificial intelligence, and is drawing up rules on its ethical use.
Pichai’s comments suggest the company may be hoping to head off a broad-based crackdown by the EU on the technology. Vestager and the EU have been the among the more aggressive regulators of big tech firms, an approach US authorities have picked up with investigations into the dominance of companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon. – Associated Press
