Members of the public sector, private sector, and academia convened for the second AI Policy Forum Symposium last month to explore critical directions and questions posed by artificial intelligence in our economies and societies. The virtual event, hosted by the AI Policy Forum (AIPF) -- an undertaking by the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing to bridge high-level principles of AI policy with the practices and trade-offs of governing -- brought together an array of distinguished panelists to delve into four cross-cutting topics: law, auditing, health care, and mobility. In the last year there have been substantial changes in the regulatory and policy landscape around AI in several countries -- most notably in Europe with the development of the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act, the first attempt by a major regulator to propose a law on artificial intelligence. In the United States, the National AI Initiative Act of 2020, which became law in January 2021, is providing a coordinated program across federal government to accelerate AI research and application for economic prosperity and security gains. Finally, China recently advanced several new regulations of its own. Each of these developments represents a different approach to legislating AI, but what makes a good AI law?

Last fall, Politico reporter Alex Thompson wrote a short news story about President Biden's then-science adviser, Eric Lander, and how he was driving everyone in the White House crazy. Then, after writing that article, Thompson got an anonymous tip about Lander's mistreatment of his staff, which included lawyer Rachel Wallace. Wallace alleged that Lander bullied her and retaliated against her for raising ethical red flags about his behavior. One of those red flags was about Eric Lander's closeness with another Eric, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Lander's desire for Schmidt's foundation, Schmidt Futures, to help fund the White House science office. After Thompson wrote about the bullying allegations, Lander resigned from the administration under pressure.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies around the globe has led to increasing calls for robust AI policy: laws that let innovation flourish while protecting people from privacy violations, exploitive surveillance, biased algorithms, and more. But the drafting and passing of such laws has been anything but easy. "This is a very complex problem," Luis Videgaray PhD '98, director of MIT's AI Policy for the World Project, said in a lecture on Wednesday afternoon. "This is not something that will be solved in a single report. This has got to be a collective conversation, and it will take a while. It will be years in the making."

Moreover, the EU must promote throughout the Member States an inclusive society from the beginning and make digital a key part of school curricula through a bigger emphasis on STEM. As a common and immediate goal, we need to ensure that the whole society possesses at least basic digital skills. Continuing on, we must also support the development of advanced skills, in both higher education and vocational training fields and, in terms of disciplinary subjects, in science and engineering as well as arts and culture. This does not only help people utilizing new technologies in our current working environment and build up diversity for AI development, but also prepares the ground for the jobs and activities of the future.

The Union ministry of electronics and information technology has set up an internal committee to advise the government on a policy on artificial intelligence (AI). Top sources said that the expert committee will advise the IT ministry on the most apt technologies for India. The government's main focus is to reduce cyber attacks with AI. The main policy will be drawn up once the committee gives its report. Sources said that the committee is expected to give its report soon.