Guidance on regulating artificial intelligence (AI) that was developed by University of Stirling honorary professor Markus Krebsz has been adopted by United Nations (UN) working party participants this week.

The professor, of Stirling’s Management School, addressed representatives from the UN’s 193 member states at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on the issue of regulating AI without simultaneously holding back innovation.

Professor Krebsz’s work has resulted in the UN Economic Commission for Europe Working Party 6 (UNECE WP.6) producing global guidance on regulatory compliance of products and services embedded with AI or other digital technologies.

The UNECE WP.6 paper, which Professor Krebsz authored, recommends that common international standards and compliance are globally aligned, and that only AI-embedded products that comply with these standards are put on the market.

Among the products covered are robots, AI-enabled medical diagnostics tools, civilian drones, Internet-enabled toys with AI, smart speakers, the latest ranges of AI-powered security cameras, and other devices such as smartphones.

Further, the paper calls for national governments to put human rights, societal impact, and digital considerations from a UN perspective at the heart of any regulatory framework, alongside the environment and sustainability.

Member states’ representatives attending WP.6’s 34th annual session this week adopted the common regulatory arrangement with a view to becoming signatories of the declaration—also authored by professor Krebsz.

Speaking on the policy adoption, professor Krebsz, who’s also founding director of the Human-AI Institute, said: “It has been the privilege and honour of a lifetime to be leading over the last four years on such an important piece of global regulatory guidance, which has implications for more than 8bn people – from consumers to businesses and academia – everywhere.

“I’m delighted that this was adopted by the member states’ representatives and am hoping this work will provide the springboard for a future UN AI treaty or convention.”

He added: “There is a growing risk of humanity losing control in light of both increasingly greater AI agency and, ultimately, AI autonomy.

“It is important to carefully balance AI advances and innovation by protecting individual and collective freedoms and, ultimately, for humans to remain in control of Artificial intelligence.”

Recommended reading

• Should Scotland’s Startup Ecosystem Really Be Like Silicon Valley’s?
• Scots Unis to Take Part in £3.5M Project to Reduce AI Harm
• Stirling Uni Health Tech Trialled by the Elderly

Professor Kevin Grant, who’s dean of the University of Stirling Management School, also commented: “That one of our Stirling professors is at the heart of worldwide AI regulation speaks volumes about the cutting-edge research and teaching here at Stirling Management School.

“We are proud to have Markus at the helm of this important framework as we all grapple with the benefits, drawbacks and ethics of AI.”