FARI’s first ever FARI Brussels Conference hosted more than 300 people on July 5-6, 2022 at Bozar Brussels.

The conference consisted of a series of discussions uncovering challenges and opportunities, as well as the roles of the rule of law and of citizens that should be considered to achieve sustainable AI, data, and robotics for common good in both the European and global contexts.

Speakers represented different disciplines from different parts of the world delivered their expertise, experience, and perspective on the following main topics of the conference:

1. The challenges of defining AI, Data, and Robotics for the common good
2. International and local initiatives in AI, Data, and Robotics for the common good
3. The EU is getting AI Act together: How to develop AI systems under the rule of law?
4. Are robots sustainable?
5. How to involve and mobilize citizens more around AI, Data, and Robotics?
6. How are AI and Data used by and for the cities?

The journey to achieve AI for the common good is rather a journey than a destination and it requires strong collaborations from different stakeholders – Academia, companies, policy-makers, non-profit organizations and citizens. Morten Irgens, co-founder of CLAIRE stated in the conference: “The best way to ensure AI for good is to create it ourselves. We need more than legislation, we also need competence, capacity, funding, science, entrepreneurial ecosystem, and innovation diversity.” 

Civic engagement is recognized as key to achieving AI for the common good. This aspect plays out through interesting initiatives that were presented at the conference such as Stanford Online Deliberation Platform, AMAI!, Montreal Declaration for a Responsible Development of AI (2018), and UNESCO Recommendation for AI Ethics (2020). All of these projects acknowledge the importance of involving the opinions of the citizens in achieving their intended impacts. Supporting this point, in the AI Act discussion, experts also pointed out that it is very important to create a participatory design for AI that involves different stakeholders, especially inclusive civic participation. And it is necessary to ensure that the accessibility to the AI Act documents is not only limited to the relevant groups, but also to the larger public.

FARI’s profound gratitude to our partners, speakers, participants, the FARI team and student volunteers whose contributions make the FARI Brussels Conference a great success this year. The conference was mainly held in person but if you were not able to participate, you can also check out our recorded videos of our discussions on FARI – AI for Common Good YouTube channel.