Professor Marina Timoteo, Professor of law at University of Bologna, Director of AlmaLaurea Interuniversity Consortium, Deputy Director of the Interuniversity Research Centre for Comparative Law & Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Bologna, gave a lecture on the Artificial Intelligence between Ethics and Law: The European Union Approach to the students on Xueyuanlu Campus on the morning of 21 May, 2023.
The lecture was held online and on-site. It was hosted by the College of Comparative Law and co-organised by the Centre for Roman and Italian Legal Studies of CUPL and the Observatory on the Codification and Training of the Jurist in China in the Framework of the Roman Legal System of CUPL.
Director of the Academic Committee of the College Prof. Fei Anling moderated the lecture. A/Prof. Li Liang from the Academy for the Rule of Law of CUPL, A/Prof. Zhang Ying from the Academy for Date Law of CUPL and Lecturer Xu Jianbo from the College were the commentators.
At the beginning, Fei made an opening speech and expressed her gratitude to Timoteo for giving the lecture and to the guests for their active participation.
Starting from the new challenges posed by artificial intelligence to humanity, Timoteo pointed out that the European Union enacted the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI for the establishment of "trustworthy" artificial intelligence, which consists of four moral principles and seven core requirements. Subsequently, she gave a detailed introduction of the EU's legislative process on artificial intelligence. The Artificial Intelligence Act, published in the 2021, provides a general legal framework for AI governance. The EU divides the risks of AI systems into three levels and takes different measures to deal with them. Timoteo then discussed the EU's critical assessment of the Artificial Intelligence Act, concluding that the development of AI should not only be "people-centred"” but the "environmental" factors should also be considered so as to the establish a “green” AI system.
During the discussion, Li first said that as a self-iterative technology, AI's relationship with humans is not a new topic, but in recent years, AI seems to have become more real. Under this kind of background, the artificial intelligence's moral question highlights its importance more and more. Subsequently, Li and Timoteo discussed the relationship between risk and damage and the type of damage caused by artificial intelligence.
Xu Jianbo shared her thoughts with the audiences, inlcuding the reference value of EU artificial intelligence legal regulation for China's artificial intelligence legal regulation design and the reference significance of the EU's "people-centered" road choice for China to deal with the regulatory issues of artificial intelligence in the labor law.
Zhang talked about that compared with China, EU lawmakers have taken a big step forward in the field of artificial intelligence regulation, putting forward a comprehensive governance plan based on data and computing power. She believed that the Act would exert an impact quite as GDPR.
During the Q&A sesion, Li raised a question about the extraterritorial application of the Artificial Intelligence Act. Two students asked about how the law adapts to the changing technology, the public law issues involved in artificial intelligence regulation, and the responsibilities of jurists in today's society. Timoteo answered each of these questions.
At the end of the lecture, Fei once again thanked Prof. Timoteo, the guests and all the teachers and students present. The lecture concluded in a friendly and harmonious atmosphere.
