World leaders set in motion an effort to set common rules for governing artificial intelligence with the launch of the “Hiroshima AI Process,” announced during the G7 Summit in Japan.
Policymakers in the EU, US, and elsewhere are considering legislation or regulation affecting artificial intelligence. Amid this rising global attention toward AI and its implications for policy and society, and the Hiroshima AI Process represents a significant effort to ensure that these efforts are interoperable with one another.
Background
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida signaled his government’s desire to launch the Hiroshima AI Process heading into the G7 meeting to ensure coordinated approaches to AI governance, especially generative AI.
Policy interoperability is especially important for enterprise software companies, whose products, services, and solutions often support business practices for companies working across multiple borders and jurisdictions. Interoperable rules promoted by the G7 or organizations like the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) help advanced economies use common definitions and regulatory approaches in crafting the specific laws, rules, or regulations an individual government might enact.
BSA has stressed the importance of interoperability in other areas of global policy, specifically in the area of global management of data. The Global Data Alliance wrote G7 members on the importance of interoperability ahead of this year’s meeting, and has similarly promoted the underlying principle of interoperability.
What Was Said At the G7
The G7 leaders’ communique stressed “the importance of international discussions on AI governance and interoperability between AI governance frameworks,” while acknowledging approaches may vary across G7 governments. The communique asked relevant ministers from each country to empanel a working group in cooperation with the OECD and Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) to consider “collective approaches” to generative AI and other AI policy.
“The enterprise software industry applauds G7 leaders for their commitment to establishing common rules for governance of artificial intelligence,” said BSA Vice President of Global Policy Aaron Cooper. “BSA and its members share G7 nations’ desire to create guardrails around AI, especially centering around high-risk forms of AI used in consequential decisions. The Hiroshima AI Process is a commendable step toward ensuring the world’s largest economies develop interoperable rules for AI.”
What’s Next
While the Hiroshima working group forms, the next most significant activity is likely to come in individual G7 member nations. The EU is advancing the AI Act, and the US is taking preliminary action on regulation and legislation.
As each country considers how to approach regulations impacting AI, the enterprise software industry will encourage them to continue to coordinate on interoperable approaches that enable the responsible use of AI.
