- Bayh called for concerted efforts to build an ethical framework that ensures optimal use of AI.
- He said religious institutions and civil society should enrich public debate and international legislation.
Image: HANDOUT
Civil societies and religious leaders have converged in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to discuss ways of integrating values and virtues into Artificial Intelligence.
The consultative meeting titled “Beyond values: Towards integrating virtues in artificial intelligence" runs until February 29.
The meeting has been attended by representatives of the British government, the Vatican, the Varday Institute of Science and Faith, the University of Cambridge, organisations active in the field, the Emirates Council for Prescript and Law Religion, Mohammed bin Zayed University for the Humanities, and a number of experts and researchers from different countries of the world.
The forum was organised by the Abu Dhabi Peace Forum.
The opening session of was moderated by Russell Rooke, director of the Goodwill Partnership Foundation in Britain.
He thanked His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, for inspiring the meeting.
He also hailed the Abu Dhabi Peace Forum for moving to strengthen faith and ethics in the field of artificial intelligence, in conjunction with the efforts of civil society.
Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Peace Forum, Abdullah bin Bayh, called for concerted efforts to build an ethical framework that ensures the optimal use of AI.
“There is a need to link scientific development and ethical frameworks,” he stated.
AI is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems.
The term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalise, or learn from past experience.
AI-systems deliver biased results. Search-engine technology is not neutral as it processes big data and prioritises results with the most clicks relying both on user preferences and location. AI-based decisions are thus susceptible to inaccuracies, discriminatory outcomes, and embedded or inserted bias.
Miles Stacy, consulter to the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his government's support for the initiative, highlighting the importance of the meeting.
The Religion and Civil Society Committee for Artificial Intelligence, chaired by Sheikh Al Mahfouz bin Bayh, called for broad and effective participation of religious institutions in the development and creation of AI.
He said religious institutions and civil society should enrich public debate and international legislation.
The establishment of the committee was announced in early December 2023 in London at a summit for the safe development of artificial intelligence held under the chairmanship of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.