Brussels to the Bay: The EU AI Act

The livestream of this event is now available by clicking here.

After some 36 hours of negotiations, the EU AI Act was agreed at the political level between the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. The final technical details will be ironed out in the next few weeks but the main parameters of trustworthy AI governance have been defined.

The EU AI Act is the democratic world’s first and most comprehensive legal framework on AI, promoting safety and fundamental rights of citizens whilst supporting innovation. It addresses the key issues that are at the heart of the current AI debate, such as transparency of AI models and accountability of developers, rules for safety of foundation models, definitions of high risk applications and prohibited applications, implementation and enforcement of the rules.

During the last Brussels to the Bay event of 2023, we will be joined by Kilian Gross, head of the team responsible for the development of AI policy at the European Commission in DG CNECT. Mr. Gross will connect from Brussels to present the ins and outs of the agreement. The event will be moderated by Brandie Nonnecke, a leading AI governance scholar at UC Berkeley and the founding director of the CITRIS Policy Lab.

EU

Meet the Speakers

Welcome Remarks: Gerard de Graaf, Senior Envoy for Digital to the U.S. and Head of the EU office in San Francisco

Senior Envoy for Digital to the U.S. and Head of the new EU Office in San Francisco as of 1 September, 2022, Gerard de Graaf has worked for more than 30 years in the European Commission across a wide range of policy areas. Until his recent appointment, he was director in DG CNECT, responsible inter alia for the Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts(DSA/DMA), two landmark pieces of legislation which have been recently adopted in the European Union to keep the Internet safe, protect fundamental rights and enhance competition in digital markets.

Kilian Gross, Head of Unit on Artificial Intelligence Policy Development and Coordination, European Commission

Kilian Gross is Head of Unit in DG CNECT, responsible for policy development and coordination with regard to artificial intelligence. His Unit has drafted the AI Act, as well as an updated Coordinated Plan to align AI policy support measures among EU Member States. Before his current role, Mr Gross was a member of the Cabinet of Commissioner Oettinger, Deputy and Acting Head of Unit within DG Energy (dealing with policy coordination in the energy sector), and a member of the Legal Service of the European Commission. Mr Gross is a German lawyer by training, with a strong specialisation in European and international law, and competition law.

Moderator: Brandie Nonnecke, Founding Director CITRIS Policy Lab and Associate Research Professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley

Brandie Nonnecke is Founding Director of the CITRIS Policy Lab and Associate Research Professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy, where she directs the Tech Policy Initiative and co-directs the UC Berkeley AI Policy Hub. She is a co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology where she leads the project on AI, Platforms, and Society. Ms Nonnecke is the host of TechHype, a groundbreaking video and podcast series that cuts through the hype around emerging technolgoies to get to what matters. Before, she served as a Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, and she completed fellowships at Schmidt Futures International Strategy Forum, Aspen Institute’s Tech Policy Hub, and the World Economic Forum.