On the theme «Artificial Intelligence and the Rule of Law», the World Jurist Association (WJA) held the ninth opening session Luxembourg of the World Law Congress Colombia 2021. According to Xavier Bettel, chair of the event, Prime Minister and Minister of Media, Communications and Digitalisation of Luxembourg:
«the main challenge we face is to gain people’s trust so that they are not afraid of Artificial Intelligence».
Furthermore, Mr. Bettel added that «we must remember that, as human beings, we design [AI], we develop it and we choose to what extent it benefits society». In this way, he defended the need to establish strict control criteria and the importance of being transparent and guaranteeing human dignity and rights: «this is what we have to ask from machines».
Javier Cremades, president of the WJA, stressed in his opening speech that «we are facing new challenges that are a consequence of the digitalization of society in which Artificial Intelligence is also a challenge for the Rule of Law, since we must find a way to ensure that AI does not deteriorate it and that they are compatible».
Meanwhile, Marina Teller, professor at the University of Nice, shared her opinion on the role of justice in the new technological landscape: «the law must prevent machines from monopolizing the political decision-making process, which must remain in the realm of human actions». For this reason, she considers that «the first step towards this transition is related to developing critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication». In addition, she pointed out that:
“to establish the rights of people in the digital era, a legal framework for Artificial Intelligence is necessary».
Along these lines, Karim Benyekhlef, professor at the University of Montreal, emphasized that «we must consider that, with fairness in mind, Artificial Intelligence is the result of human engineering». And he assured that «there is a responsibility to act now to regulate it without waiting any longer».
Gregory Lewkowicz, professor at the University of Brussels, focused his speech from the perspective of lawyers and bar associations, «The development of digital society and the use of artificial intelligence makes lawyers face many potential problems. One of the most important now is that of the trust clients must have. Client-attorney confidentiality is very important and, since we use digital technology for almost everything, there are many challenges regarding the protection of information.
Viviane Reding, Vice President of the World Law Foundation (WLF) and Vice President of the European Commission (2010-2014), after assuming the role of coordinator and moderator of this panel, closed the meeting advising that «investments must be made to learn about Artificial Intelligence, because if you do not have knowledge, you will not be able to survive in the new ecosystem that is opening up before us».
«It will need to be a wake up for lawyers in big institutions or in small cabinets… If they do not know about AI, if they do not understand the system, they cannot survive in the long term. And those should be the lessons to take with us also to Colombia».
This meeting is the ninth session prior to the World Congress of Law to be held in Colombia this year, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Colombian constitution. Through the projection of an institutional video, the president of the host country, Iván Duque, has committed to «continue promoting the strength of the rule of law as fertile ground to allow growth and welfare, development and freedom of citizens» and has assured that «we will continue working to build a better future for all based on the strength and guarantees of the rule of law».
FULL SESSION: https://youtu.be/zkMrg3WOrKs
SUMMARY SESSION: https://youtu.be/Bx16hN8wDeE
