Andrea Emilio Rizzoli in Brussels on the future of public AI

According to the indications resulting from the scientists’ reflections, a new European institute dedicated to artificial intelligence in science should be created. This center should be capable of providing huge computing power with high performance, a sustainable cloud infrastructure and AI training programs for scientists. Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize scientific discoveries, accelerate research progress, stimulate innovation, and improve the productivity of researchers; these are the premises made by the group of renowned academics, co-chaired by Professor Andrea Emilio Rizzoli and Professor Anna Fabijanska of the Lodz University of Technology.

In order for the potential of this technology to be fully exploited, "It is necessary to rebalance the situation and strengthen public research in all disciplines and in all’EU member states. This means giving universities and research centers across Europe equal access to state-of-the-art AI facilities," - explained Rizzoli and Fabijanska during a meeting held April 15 in Brussels with European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager and European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Iliana Ivanova.

Another point evoked by the panel is the need for high quality, responsibly collected and equitably accessible data. The final recommendation addressed to the European Commission is that the technologies of the future should be driven by people and communities and not just by profit logic. In this regard, the EU should also promote research on the philosophical, legal and ethical implications of AI use in science and their impact on human rights, transparency and accountability.

The list of recommendations is the result of the selection made by the Commission’s chief scientific advisors based on the work of the expert panel co-chaired by the director of the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Studies (IDSIA USI-SUPSI) , Andrea Emilio Rizzoli. The pool was established through the Scientific Advice Mechanism, a service created by the European Commission to provide scientific evidence and independent policy recommendations to EU Commissioners.