Navigating Geopolitics in AI Governance Implementation

Event recording links:

Navigating Geopolitics in AI Governance Implementation (Panel 1)

Navigating Geopolitics in AI Governance Implementation (Panel 2)

Event description:

Countries worldwide are eager to harness the promises of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As discussions on AI governance gain momentum, we see a substantial gap between the rhetoric and the implementation. One major factor hindering the implementation of AI governance is geopolitics, which may pressure countries to prioritize national competitiveness over safety concerns and discourage cooperation among countries. Geopolitical tensions also have an adverse impact on the AI industry by disrupting the supply chain and forcing companies to navigate fragmented AI regulatory frameworks.

This two-panel seminar aims to shed light on the interactions between geopolitics and the implementation of AI governance. We bring together leading professionals from various countries/regions (e.g., the US, China, Europe) and from different sectors (academia, industry, policy makers, civil society) to better understand the interactions and explore ideas for an implementable global AI governance framework despite geopolitical tensions.

Panel 1: Understanding the landscape: Geopolitical influences on AI governance

Moderator

Prof. Robin Mansell FAcSS, FBA is Professor Emerita, London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research focuses on media and communications regulation and policy, data governance, privacy and surveillance, digital platforms, socio-technical features of data and information systems, and the social, political and economic impacts of innovation in digital networks and applications. She has published numerous books and peer-reviewed papers. She holds a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Fribourg and received the Outstanding Alumni Award for Academic Achievement from Simon Fraser University and the International Communication Association’s C. Edwin Baker Award for the Advancement of Scholarship on Media, Markets and Democracy. She is a Fellow of the Oxford Global Society.

Speakers

Prof. Robert Trager is Co-Director of the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative, International Governance Lead at the Centre for the Governance of AI, and Senior Research Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. He is a recognized expert in the international governance of emerging technologies, diplomatic practice, institutional design, and technology regulation. He regularly advises government and industry leaders on these topics. Dr. Trager has written two books and numerous articles in leading social science journals. His award-winning research has been covered in many leading press outlets. Before moving to Oxford, he was Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles and held faculty positions at Yale University and an Olin Fellowship at Harvard University.

Prof. Angela Huyue Zhang is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong and Director of the Phillip K. H. Wong Center for Chinese Law.  Zhang is widely recognized as a leading authority on Chinese tech regulation.  She is the author of Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation (Oxford, 2021), which was named one of the Best Political Economy Books of 2021 by ProMarket. Her second book, High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs its Economy is scheduled to be released by the OUP in April this year.  In fall this year, Zhang will join the University of Southern California as a Professor of Law.

Prof. Milton Mueller is Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA) in the School of Public Policy. He directs GT’s Master of Science program in Cybersecurity Policy. Professor Mueller is an internationally prominent scholar specializing in the political economy of information and communication. He is the co-founder and director of Georgia Tech’s Internet Governance Project (IGP), which has played an important role in shaping global Internet policies. The author of seven books and scores of journal articles, Dr Mueller’s work informs science and technology studies, law, economics, communications, and international studies.

Dr Gry Hasselbalch is Co-founder and Director of academic research of the think tank DataEthics.eu. She is also the Research Lead and Senior Key Expert for the EU’s International Outreach for a Human-Centric Approach to Artificial Intelligence initiative (InTouchAI.eu). She was a member of the EU’s High-Level Expert Group on AI. Dr Hasselbalch is also a member of the working group that developed the EU-US Technology & Trade Council Joint Roadmap on Trustworthy AI and Risk Assessment and a member of the Nordic Ethical AI Group. She also leads the Data Pollution & Power initiative at the Institute for Science and Ethics, University of Bonn.

Panel 2: Towards globally consistent AI governance: Cooperation despite geopolitical tensions

Moderator

Ms Claire Milne is a Visiting Senior Fellow and former Guest Teacher at the LSE, and a Senior Advisor to the OXGS. Claire has had a long and varied career with ICT policy as its central theme. After a spell in British Telecom, from 1989 she became an independent consultant, providing policy and regulatory advice in dozens of countries on all continents. She has also served on several bodies in the UK, including the Internet Watch Foundation, Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Expert Panel, the Internet Commission, and the British Standards Institution’s Consumer and Public Interest Network. In 2015 she was awarded an MBE for services to the telecommunications sector.

Speakers

Dr Stephen Pattison is Vice President of ARM’s Public Affairs. His focus is London, Brussels, Washington and, increasingly, China. Key issues on which he is working include Internet of Things, Smart Cities, Data Protection, Energy Efficiency, and Security. He also oversees ARM’s Corporate Responsibility Programme. Prior to joining ARM, Stephen was CEO, International Chamber of Commerce UK. He was once a British Diplomat and worked at the British Embassy in Washington, and on UN issues in London, New York and Geneva. He holds a Doctorate from Oxford University and spent a year at Harvard as Fellow in International Affairs at the Weatherhead Center.

Mr Wendell Wallach is the Carnegie/Uehiro Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (CCEIA)  where he founded and co-directs (with Anja Kaspersen) the AI and Equality Initiative. He is also senior advisor to The Hastings Center and a scholar at the Yale University Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics where he chaired Technology and Ethics studies for eleven years. Wallach’s  latest book, a primer on ethics and governance of emerging technologies, is entitled, A Dangerous Master: How to keep technology from slipping beyond our control (BASIC Book).  In addition, he co-authored (with Colin Allen) Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong (OUP).  He received the World Technology Award for Ethics in 2014 and for Journalism and Media in 2015, as well as a Fulbright Research Chair at the University of Ottawa in 2015-2016. The World Economic Forum appointed Mr. Wallach co-chair of its Global Future Council on Technology, Values, and Policy for the 2016-2018 term.

Ms Kayla Blomquist is the Co-founder and Director of the Oxford China Policy Lab and currently pursuing a DPhil at the Oxford Internet Institute. Her current work focuses on China’s AI governance strategies as well as the role of third countries’ in US-China technology competition. She was recently a researcher at the University of Oxford China Centre, producing the Oxford China Briefing Book, as well as a fellow at the Centre for Governance of AI. Previously, she worked as a diplomat in the U.S. Mission to China, where she specialized in the governance of emerging technologies, human rights, and improving the use of new technology within government services.

Mr Maxime Ricard is Policy Manager at Allied for Startups, which is a worldwide network of advocacy organisations focused on improving the policy environment for startups, in the European Union and worldwide. He is based in Brussels and manages Allied for Startups’ advocacy work regarding EU policies that affect the startup ecosystem. Amongst those, he primarily covers EU digital policies such as artificial intelligence, liability, and data. Before he joined Allied for Startups, he has worked since 2019 as a consultant in EU public affairs, focusing on digital policies such as artificial intelligence, data, product liability, cybersecurity, consumer policy, intellectual property and content moderation.

Ms Raquel Jorge works as Policy Analyst at Elcano Royal Institute think tank and is responsible for the international affairs and technology policy agenda. She will complement her activity at Elcano with a new position as Project Lead for the implementation of the first project on EU’s foreign policy of technology at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence since February 2024, a project jointly funded by the European External Action Service and DG CONNECT. As a former Fulbright Fellow granted by the U.S. State Department, she holds a Master’s in Security Policy, specialized in technology policy, from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University.