The event follows up on the Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on AI and the updated Coordinated Plan on AI, published by the European Commission in April 2021, as well as the previous editions of the European AI Alliance Assembly. The joint efforts of the Slovenian Presidency of the European Council and the European Commission in organising this event mark another important milestone aiming to bring policymaking efforts'From Ambition to Action' and turn Europe into a global hub of excellence and trust in AI. The conference will unfold around a number of inspirational speeches, panel discussions and breakout sessions featuring experts and policy makers from EU Member States, third countries, international organisations, academia, civil society as well as business representatives. Each of the 2 days will be introduced at the highest-level by the European Commission's Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton. From the side of the Slovenian Presidency, Minister of Public Administration Boštjan Koritnik and Minister for the Digital Transformation Mark Boris Andrijanič will open the event.

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to systems that display intelligent behaviour by analysing their environment and taking actions – with some degree of autonomy – to achieve specific goals. Many AI approaches critically depend on the availability of data to achieve their results, or use learning methods to reach their peak performance or improve over time. Enabled by computing power, availability of data and progress in algorithms, AI is progressively turning into one of the strategic technologies of the 21st century. AI can contribute to a wide array of benefits across the entire spectrum of economic and social activities. It can help to solve complex problems and boost the green and digital transformation of businesses and societies.

EASA envisions three stages of AI's rollout in aviation: systems that will assist pilots (2022–2025); human-machine collaboration in flying an aircraft, such as a "virtual" first officer (2025–2030); and autonomous commercial air transport, or, more colloquially, pilotless airliners that fly themselves (2035 and beyond). EASA broadly defines AI as "any technology that appears to emulate the performance of a human." Ultimately, the widespread deployment of AI in aviation comes down to a matter of trust, EASA stated. "A European ethical approach to AI is central to strengthen citizens' trust in the digital development and aims at building a competitive advantage for European companies," according to the EASA roadmap. "Only if AI is developed and used in a way that respects widely shared ethical values can it be considered trustworthy. Therefore, there is a need for ethical guidelines that build on the existing regulatory framework. In June 2018, the [European] Commission set up a High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI HLEG), the general objective of which was to support the implementation of the European strategy on AI. This includes the elaboration of recommendations on future-related policy development and on ethical, legal and societal issues related to AI, including socio-economic challenges. In April 2019, the AI HLEG proposed the following seven key requirements for trustworthy AI, which were published in its report on Ethics Guidelines on Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence."

Welcome to the ALTAI portal! The Assessment List for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (ALTAI), is a practical tool that helps business and organisations to self-assess the trustworthiness of their AI systems under development. The AI HLEG translated these requirements into a detailed Assessment List, taking into account feedback from a six month long piloting process within the European AI community. Furthermore, to demonstrate the capability of such an Assessment List the Vice-Chair of the AI HLEG and his team at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics at University College Cork, developed a prototype web based tool, to practically guide developers and deployers of AI through an accessible and dynamic checklist. You can create an ALTAI account here.

The Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a document prepared by the High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI HLEG). This independent expert group was set up by the European Commission in June 2018, as part of the AI strategy announced earlier that year. The AI HLEG presented a first draft of the Guidelines in December 2018. Following further deliberations by the group in light of discussions on the European AI Alliance, a stakeholder consultation and meetings with representatives from Member States, the Guidelines were revised and published in April 2019. In parallel, the AI HLEG also prepared a revised document which elaborates on a definition of Artificial Intelligence used for the purpose of its deliverables.

Since we joined the European AI Alliance back in June, a lot has been happening. On June 26th, the High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI HLEG) held the first AI Alliance Assembly. The group presented The Policy and Investment Recommendations on AI, addressed to the European Commission and the Member States. They also launched the piloting process of the AI Ethics Guidelines. For those that are unfamiliar, this started with the European Union commission's goal to set guidelines for ethical AI creation, started with the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI published by the AI HLEG last year.

The High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence ("AI HLEG"), an independent expert group set up by the European Commission in June 2018 as part of its AI strategy, has published its final Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence ("AI") (the "Guidelines"). These Guidelines form part of a wider focus by the Commission on AI, with President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen commenting most recently on July 16, in her proposed political guidelines, that: "In my first 100 days in office, I will put forward legislation for a coordinated European approach on the human and ethical implications of Artificial Intelligence…". The AI HLEG appreciates that AI has the potential to benefit a wide range of sectors and has a wide variety of uses. However, it also acknowledges that the use of AI also brings new challenges and raises various legal and ethical questions. It is with this in mind that the Guidelines have been developed: with a view to providing a framework to achieve and operationalize Trustworthy AI.

The Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI provide an assessment list that operationalises the key requirements and offers guidance to implement them in practice. This assessment list will undergo a piloting process: all stakeholders are invited to test the assessment list and provide practical feedback on how it can be improved. This feedback will allow for a better understanding of how the assessment list, which is aimed to offer guidance for all AI applications, can be implemented within an organisation. It will also indicate where specific tailoring of the assessment list is needed given AI's context-specificity. All interested stakeholders can participate to the piloting process and start testing out the assessment list. An open survey or "quantitative analysis" which will be sent to all those who register to the piloting; The piloting phase will run from the 26th of June until the 1st of December 2019.

This document was written by the High-Level Expert Group on AI (AI HLEG). It is the second deliverable of the AI HLEG and follows the publication of the group's first deliverable, Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI, published on 8 April 2019. The AI HLEG is an independent expert group that was set up by the European Commission in June 2018.

"Artificial intelligence" can be defined as the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intervention. Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in new products and services across numerous industries and for a variety of policy-related purposes, raising questions about the resulting legal implications, including its effect on individual privacy. Aspects of AI related to privacy concerns are the ability of systems to make decisions and to learn by adjusting their code in response to inputs received over time, using large volumes of data. Following the European Commission's declaration on AI in April 2018, its High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI HLEG) published Draft Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI in December 2018. A consultation process regarding this working document concluded on February 1, 2019, and a revised draft of the document based on the comments that were received is expected to be delivered to the European Commission in April 2019.