As more companies rush to implement AI solutions and software, a growing number of experts are warning that it could result in an explosion of'fake news' and misinformation. The United States and Italy agreed on Wednesday to coordinate efforts to counter the spread of misinformation and fake news articles by foreign governments. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani agreed on the new pact during a meeting on the sidelines of a three-day meeting of Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers on the island of Capri. The U.S. last year released an intelligence assessment sent to more than 100 countries that accused Moscow of using spies, social media and Russian state-run media to erode public faith in the integrity of democratic elections. Last week, Belgium said its prosecutors were probing alleged Russian attempts to influence an upcoming European Parliamentary election.

Positive, reliable and human-centric artificial intelligence (AI) relies on the willingness of Europe as a whole to design a balanced and inclusive governance framework that would allow it to become a leader in the development of trustworthy AI technologies worldwide. That was the main conclusion reached in the frame of the high-level workshop organised by the Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) on 29 January 2020 at the European Parliament in Brussels. The first STOA event for this parliamentary term (2019-2024) drew a full house with Members of the European Parliament, European Commission leaders, academic experts and representatives of international organisations debating how to strike the right balance on AI. Harnessing the numerous benefits that the transformative power of AI can bring needs to also take account of the necessity to mitigate a number of potential risks – from hampering people's fundamental rights, such as privacy or non-discrimination – to undermining European values such as democracy, human dignity and the right to assemble. The event proved to be a timely occasion to discuss how Europe could maximise the benefits and address the challenges of AI in a human-centric way, coming only a few days before the publication of the European Commission's legislative plans on AI in the form of a White Paper on 19 February 2020.