Project Kick-off “FAIR-AI” – Fostering Austria’s Innovative strength and research excellence in Artificial Intelligence
Research Institute – Digital Human Rights Center is happy to announce the launch of the Austrian Artificial Intelligence Mission flagship project “FAIR-AI – Fostering Austria’s Innovative strength and research excellence in Artificial Intelligence” under the leadership of th austrian institute of technology (AIT). As part of the official kick-off event on 18.1.2024 at the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK), which was attended by our scientific director, Ing. Dr. Christof Tschohl and our employees, Dr. Heidi Scheichenbauer and Dr. Madeleine Müller, BA, MU, representatives of all partner organizations came together to ring in the start of the project together and to discuss the next steps.
Expert panel on the AI regulation
The project deals in particular with the implementation of the upcoming AI Regulation (“AI Act”) of the European Union. The focus will be on the question of “how” to implement the legal framework of this regulation and a look from theory to practice will be taken to evaluate the implementation of the AI Regulation. The aim is to provide guidance for companies on what needs to be considered when developing “Trustworthy AI” in accordance with the EU AI Regulation.
Particular attention is paid to preparing companies for the new regulatory requirements and improving networks and cooperation to ensure the competitiveness of Austrian technology and the business location.
To this end, 7 different scenarios (“use cases”), which are evenly distributed across the different levels of the risk pyramid anchored in the AI Act, will be used to develop guidelines on how responsibilities and risks can be distributed, existing processes in companies can be adapted and issues relating to trustworthy AI can be communicated effectively. This serves to incorporate as much practical experience as possible into the theoretical research process and thus ensure the practical relevance of the research results.
Handbook for trustworthy AI
FAIR-AI will therefore create a scientific framework to examine all these challenges in the context of the AI regulation and identify the most efficient and best implementation measures for practice in business and other sectors. The results will ultimately be compiled in the form of guidelines and recommendations in a “Handbook for trustworthy AI”. In addition, the research results are to be made available as elaborated instruments on “open-access” platforms and incorporated into various training courses, including teaching material, in order to make the knowledge accessible to a broad public.
In order to achieve this, the project brings together a total of 111 employees from 22 partner organizations, whereby the Research Institute – Digital Human Rights Center will play an important role within the project partners, especially with its expertise in data protection law, impact assessments, AI law and ethics.
We are therefore looking forward to a great collaboration with all partner organizations and to exciting research activities at the interface between theory and practice in a new field of regulated artificial intelligence.