The Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) has called for urgent attention to two priorities relating to artificial intelligence (AI) and corporate organisations.
The European Commission appointed a 52 expert High Level Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI HLG) earlier this month and FERMA has called on the Group to immediately address the lack of ethical rules relating to AI.
The AI HLG was created to support the implementation of the European strategy on AI, including the development of ethical guidelines by the end of 2018.
There are currently no clear ethical guidelines relating to the use of data generated by AI tools and FERMA has requested the AI HLG define ethical rules for the corporate use of AI, for employees, suppliers and all actors of the value chain.
AI tools will allow an increased and constant monitoring of a high number of parameters and the risk management profession believes that the expanded use of this data could create concerns among stakeholders and reputational risk.
Additionally, FERMA has called for the High Level Group to draw a clear line between the opportunities brought by AI technologies and the threats they pose to the insurability of organisations due to an over-reliance on AI during decision-making processes.
Jo Willaert, president of FERMA, said a dialogue between regulators and AI users must start now and the AI HLG and European Alliance represent the ideal settings.
Willaert commented: “FERMA stands ready to bring its unique expertise in enterprise risk management methodology and tools, such as risk identification and mapping, risk control and risk financing, to the discussion so we can manage the threats and opportunities posed by the rise of AI to our organisations and society within acceptable risk tolerances.”
“FERMA argues that the new possibilities offered by AI must remain compatible with the public interest and those of the economy and commercial organisation.”
He added: “AI is already a reality in many organisations and it is going to disrupt our comprehension of the future.”
“Public authorities have a key role to play to ensure that there is a human judgement as a last resort.”
