G7 Summit: the global digital industry calls on leaders to align their policies with digital.

In the run-up to the G7 Summit to be held in Biarritz from August 24 to 26, Syntec Numérique, Tech in France andAFNUM, united within DIGITALEUROPE, are calling on political leaders to focus on two major challenges of digital transformation: guaranteeing trust-based relations in the flow of data from one state to another, and ensuring the ethical and responsible development of artificial intelligence. To meet these challenges, the organizations recall their series of recommendations made on June 28 at the Osaka Summit.

Data Free Flow with Trust

Following in the footsteps of the Japanese Prime Minister in Davos last January, the global digital industry is calling on governments to set up a “Data Free Flow with Trust” (DFFT) system, i.e. a data circulation system based on trust and collaboration, key factors in sustainable global growth.

To this end, five recommendations have been formulated by the sector’s organizations:

• Facilitate the free flow of data across borders and strengthen trust.
• Extend privacy protection mechanisms to ensure international interoperability, technological neutrality, transparency and responsible data processing practices, in line with OECD guidelines on privacy protection and cross-border data flows.
• Guarantee flawless cybersecurity from the design stage, at all times and everywhere, by implementing international standards and common best practices drawn up by digital industry players.
• Protect consumers and citizens against fraudulent or misleading commercial activities on the Internet through cooperation between the various national bodies responsible for this protection.
• Ensure transparent regulation of data flows and support competition and innovation, while protecting intellectual property (including source codes, encryption keys, algorithms and new technologies, especially artificial intelligence).

Artificial intelligence for all

Thanks to the trusted circulation of data, cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain, etc. are transforming all aspects of our economies and societies: health, agriculture, mobility, energy, environment, industry, education, etc.

The main challenge facing governments today is to implement innovative solutions to ensure that this ongoing revolution benefits everyone. To this end, the OECD, the European Union, the French, Canadian and Japanese governments and many others have made every effort to agree on ethical guidelines and principles for putting AI to work for people.

In this spirit, the European Commission, for example, has developed an “agile” sandbox-type experimentation process: the comprehensive and detailed evaluation grid it has published enables any company that so wishes to put the ethical principles for AI to the test of micro-economic realities during this evaluation phase.

In this respect, the International Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (G2IA) set up last year by Canada and France to “support and guide the responsible development of AI” could provide a framework to encourage global cooperation in innovation, research and investment.

The organizations also call on governments to focus their efforts on training, including retraining, as well as support for the ethical and responsible development of AI. Its applications, in areas such as energy consumption, climate change or health, will help improve the quality of life for everyone.

To this end, the industry players have formulated four recommendations:

• Communicate and align approaches and policies on ethical conduct, including work done at national, OECD and EU level at the G7 summit. The aim is to ensure ethical and responsible design and deployment of AI systems, including tackling safety mechanisms, using verified and representative data, promoting transparency and enabling greater interoperability.
• Support the development and use of common global standards designed by industry players to promote interoperability and non-discriminatory access to markets and innovation.
• Facilitate the use of and access to data in an open, usable format for AI applications, with a view to driving innovation and competitiveness, and stimulating opportunities for SMEs.
• Promote cooperation in the fields of research and innovation to support the digital skills of younger generations and working people who need to acquire new know-how. Setting up programs to enable the exchange of researchers between universities would also facilitate new forms of cooperation and the possibility of developing AI solutions for a sustainable society.