Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1496177
12 OPINION maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 APRIL 2023 Alex Agius Saliba is a PL MEP THE exponential age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has just begun. AI has reached a stage where people are starting to feel it on their daily habits. A case in point is the recent launch of products like Chat-GPT, its latest version GPT-4, and all other new AI dig- ital products that are growing exponentially and re-defining our way of doing things, now and soon enough. With such a revolutionary pro- gress on our productivity, we need to understand the impli- cations on people's livelihoods, especially when it comes to dis- tribution of wealth, their funda- mental rights and responsibili- ties, and their current and future employment challenges and op- portunities. This raises the importance that we as Europeans contin- ue to evolve our social market economic model to ensure that inequalities between people are managed sustainably, and we don't end up with ever increas- ing inequalities between regions and member states. This is what we as Socialists and Democrats Group (S&D) are working for in the European Parliament (EP) through the new EU AI Act. Many stakeholders argue that AI will re-define how you and me improve our educational achievements, our health treat- ment outcomes, our access to in- formation, our scanning of data, and other achievements that we never dreamed of before. With AI, small and large organiza- tions and businesses can become much more efficient and effec- tive in achieving their multiple outcomes and objectives. This all sounds great. However, like what happened in every past technological revolution even going back to the steam engine 200 years ago, inequalities be- tween the have and have-nots have always increased dramati- cally, especially during the early years following such technolog- ical inventions. Trying to understand the sources for these inequalities is key to understand what our European regulations and di- rectives should prioritise to help create a European social environment that promotes co- hesion and solidarity between European regions and member states. Access to data, finance and resources have always been the key determinants for different levels of societal inequalities. As we all know, different European citizens have different levels of access. In the past, inequalities used to be defined in terms of physical objects. Nowadays, we cannot talk about inequalities without mentioning the digital dimension, especially when AI can be controlled by a very few numbers of people who can ex- ert huge power over all the rest of us. The general tendency has al- ways shown that existing sys- tems always favour those people who already possess their own resources due to their lower risk profiles. The problem with this is that existing practices are bi- ased towards the haves rather than the have-nots. Basically, momentum creates more momentum, efficiencies create more efficiencies, and therefore creates more inequal- ity between people, regions, and member states. In short, effi- ciencies and equality of oppor- tunity do not go always hand in hand, and it must be our politi- cal will as Europeans to find the right balance between them. The main challenge for every citizen is to be empowered and autonomous enough to take his or her own free decisions. AI is challenging all this freedom to choose freely, and for that rea- son, we as S&D Group welcomes the AI Act proposed by the Eu- ropean Commission to clearly define the kind of AI we want in Europe, and to give the EU the role of a global standard-setter. Due to AI's complexity, Euro- pean citizens needs protection from such complex information which cannot be digested fully by laypeople who feel powerless and alienated. Our discussions in the European Parliament should go beyond the legal text and be more about how regulations and directives can be felt by Euro- pean citizens in their daily con- sumption of data. AI is even more complex than subject areas like financial prod- ucts and food production mar- kets. Even so, due to the com- plexity of financial products, European legislators and regula- tors require all banks and other financial products providers to provide all the required infor- mation to buyers of financial products. On the other hand, food con- sumers in the EU are being protected through EU regu- lated high quality controls and information provided through easy-to-understand labelling on the food products they buy and consume. All these quality con- trols and easier understanding of information are contributing towards better and more auton- omous decisions by European citizens. The same policy regulatory principles of simplicity and indi- vidual protections should also be applied to our experiences with AI. We cannot continue having instances where people end up being the products of platforms who use such data for adver- tising and profit maximization purposes. We as European Par- liament, must ensure that people have the power to choose what type of technology they want to consume, based on clearer infor- mation. As S&D, we want to have a situation where people are tru- ly equal in understanding what they are consuming, and how they can defend their rights through robust redress mecha- nisms in all European member states. We want European citi- zens to know the company who is providing such technological services, and where to send their complaints to the relevant regu- lators and supervisors. As Euro- pean Parliamentarians, we want to make sure that people are not feeling powerless in face of AI complexity. We must ensure that all people in the European Union understand easily and quickly at the point of consump- tion of technology. The issue of AI is multi-dimen- sional and global. However, we cannot discuss AI without refer- ring to the local level. It's really at the local level where citizens can understand, trust, and feel the impact they are experienc- ing in their daily lives. It is at this very level where inequalities must be tackled by member state governments in conjunction with the European institutions. We cannot pretend that all peo- ple will have equal access to data without understanding their lo- cal realities. Closer to home, I encourage the responsible Maltese insti- tutions to continue making all people aware about the risks and opportunities of AI. We should continue pushing Malta on the AI map to create higher value-added jobs, while ensur- ing that our Maltese language will continue to be fully relevant in this AI age. Making sure that learned lessons from AI practic- es sips through the public and private sectors would increase our economic competitive- ness, and our agility to change as a country in a fast-changing world. While our economy is very im- portant for our livelihoods, we must ensure that the benefits of AI are fully enjoyed by every per- son and organization fairly and equitably, not only in monetary terms but also in terms of our European quality of life. Through AI, we have a huge opportunity to improve our dai- ly lives. We as Europeans are at this very important historical juncture of our human relation- ship with machines and technol- ogy. Achieving a balance between economic improvement through AI and ensuring equality of op- portunity for everyone will be the key to reduce the concentra- tion of power in the hands of the few and ensure that people don't feel more alienated from our de- mocracies and politics. Tackling inequality in the age of AI Alex Agius Saliba