The regulatory approach towards artificial intelligence is currently the subject of heated debate among policy makers. This regulatory debate is, however, dominated by a one-dimensional viewpoint, in which the digital forest cannot always be seen for its trees. Contrary to popular belief, however, artificial intelligence does not in and of itself constitute a regulatory problem. Artificial intelligence (AI) is not a new phenomenon. Various AI applications, such as machine vision, have been in use in Finland for several decades.

Over the last fifty years, the world has seen an impressive growth in science - in terms of publications, number of highly-trained scientists and impact of results. This is not only good for science, but also for everyone who benefits from the outcomes and applications of scientific research. An area that has seen much growth lately is artificial intelligence (AI). A full four thousand scientific papers were submitted to the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), the top international conference in AI, which was held in Stockholm earlier this summer. While growth in science and technology has happened in most countries and regions in the world, recent developments in Asia are particularly impressive.

Intelligence is no longer exclusively human. Machines can now recognise a human face, drive a car, beat a chess master and cope with uncertainty. To be as clever as a human, a system must make the right decision in complex and changing conditions – swerve to avoid someone while not knowing if it's safe, for example, or understand loosely worded commands. Expectations of what artificial intelligence (AI) can do run high, and universities are keen to meet the needs of industry. Cheaper hardware and software and an abundance of data have fuelled interest.