You don't need to understand AI to trust it, says German politician

The minister for artificial intelligence at the German government has spoken about the European vision for AI, especially how to grow and gain trust from non-expert users. Prof. Dr. Ina Schieferdecker, a junior minister in Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF), who has artificial intelligence in her portfolio, recently attended an AI Camp in Berlin (or KI-Camp in German, for "künstliche Intelligenz"). She was interviewed there by DW (Deutsche Welle, Germany's answer to the BBC World Service) on how the German government and the European Union can help alleviate concerns about AI among ordinary users of the internet and information technologies. When addressing the question that AI is often seen as a "black box", and the demand for algorithms to be made transparent, Schieferdecker said she saw it differently. "I don't believe that everyone has to understand AI. Not everyone can understand it," she said.