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G-20 Broadens Debate on AI Risks and Mulls Global Oversight

G-20 Broadens Debate on AI Risks and Mulls Global Oversight

Leave a Comment / Artificial Intellegence, News, Tech News / By

The G20 summit, hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, provided a platform for world leaders to engage in crucial discussions regarding the future of artificial intelligence (AI). 

G-20 Broadens Debate on AI Risks and Mulls Global Oversight
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The primary focus of these discussions was to harness the economic potential of AI while safeguarding human rights, and many leaders voiced the need for global oversight of this rapidly evolving technology.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed the establishment of an oversight body akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, emphasizing the necessity of “human-centric” AI governance. This sentiment was echoed by Modi, who emphasized the need to create a framework that ensures AI’s development aligns with human values and rights.

Notably, even AI innovators themselves are advocating for political leaders to play a regulatory role in AI development. The acknowledgment of this necessity underlines the importance of addressing the ethical and societal implications of AI on a global scale.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner expressed the bloc’s commitment to addressing AI ethics through common rules. He noted that this process had already begun, with experts laying the foundation for deeper discussions in the coming year. The commitment to ethical AI governance is a significant step toward ensuring responsible AI development and deployment.

In their final communique, G20 leaders affirmed their dedication to “responsible AI development, deployment, and use.” This commitment encompasses the protection of fundamental rights, transparency, privacy, and data security while avoiding potential pitfalls. Additionally, the leaders endorsed a “pro-innovation regulatory/governance approach” designed to maximize the benefits of AI while carefully considering its associated risks.

This G20 initiative aligns with the previous agreement reached by leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies. In May, the G7 leaders expressed concerns about the potential risks posed by AI technologies and initiated the “Hiroshima Process.” This process involves cabinet-level discussions aimed at addressing AI challenges, with results expected to be presented by year’s end.

AI governance is poised to remain a central focus in international forums. Italy, set to preside over the G7 in 2024, is committed to advancing AI governance. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Prime Minister Modi discussed coordination efforts during the G20 summit, signaling their commitment to a comprehensive and responsible approach to AI.

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Furthermore, the United Kingdom is preparing to host the inaugural global summit on Artificial Intelligence on November 1-2. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak seeks to position the UK as a leader in AI technology, emphasizing its potential for both positive contributions, such as expediting medical diagnoses and reducing emissions and the need to mitigate potential misuse, including election interference and disinformation campaigns.

Key figures, including US President Joe Biden and prominent tech leaders, are expected to participate in the UK summit. This international collaboration underscores the global commitment to harnessing AI’s potential while ensuring ethical and responsible governance.

G20 to Double their Efforts in Wrapping Up the Digital Tax by 2020

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Facebook, Google, Amazon, Uber, these are some of the top tech giants that are working globally, and in the past few years, questions have been raised on the tax these companies have been cutting off by shifting to low tax countries. The financial authorities of the developed countries have always seen this as an unfair move, as they earn complete profits but pay lesser tax.

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Image Source: middleeastmonitor.com

To resolve this problem, the finance ministers of the G20 countries have finally agreed on imposing new rules on those tech companies, such that they will now pay taxes based on their profits and in which countries they are serving, instead of where they are based.

G20 is an international organisation, comprising of world’s 19 biggest economies and the Europian Union, making a total of 47 countries, that works towards economic stability.

Reuters reported the news first, through a draft communique obtained by the former, according to which, the G20 companies will compile common rules to close the loopholes for the tech companies. Though the low tax had been beneficial for small countries to attract international tech giants.

The new rules will include a two-pillar approach. According to the first pillar, the tax will be based on two things, what are the services or goods that the companies will be providing and where these companies are operating. The second pillar will impose a minimum tax rate on every company, such that even the services are moved to another country, the basic tax will be the same.

“We welcome the recent progress on addressing the tax challenges arising from digitization and endorse the ambitious program that consists of a two-pillar approach. We will redouble our efforts for a consensus-based solution with a final report by 2020.” stated the draft communique.

For the support of the agreement, countries like France and Britain have been quite supportive as the tech giants strategically pay lesser tax in those countries. But upon this, the U.S. based companies have also raised the concern of being most targeted by the European countries.

The finalisation of the rules for the taxes to be imposed on the global tech companies is still under process. But according to the reports, G20 will release the final report on the new rules in 2020.