Inter­pel­la­ti­on Graf-Lit­scher (19.4462): Digi­tal ethics – pre­ven­ti­on of dis­cri­mi­na­ti­on in arti­fi­ci­al intelligence

Sub­mit­ted text

1) How does the Fede­ral Coun­cil ensu­re that social dis­tor­ti­ons (Biases)/Discriminations be pre­ven­ted in arti­fi­ci­al intel­li­gence (AI)?

2. in what form does the Fede­ral Coun­cil enga­ge with the ethi­cal aspects of digi­tizati­on (digi­tal ethics)?

3. who ensu­res, on an inter­de­part­ment­al basis, that com­mit­tees estab­lished by the Fede­ral Coun­cil suf­fi­ci­ent­ly diver­se com­po­si­ti­on are?

Justi­fi­ca­ti­on

Arti­fi­ci­al intel­li­gence (AI) has alre­a­dy led to num­e­rous, sen­sa­tio­nal appli­ca­ti­ons, for exam­p­le in image reco­gni­ti­on, medi­cal dia­gno­stics, lan­guage trans­la­ti­on or mobi­li­ty. The Fede­ral Coun­cil, under the auspi­ces of the Fede­ral Depart­ment of Eco­no­mic Affairs, Edu­ca­ti­on and Rese­arch (EAER) inter­de­part­ment­al report drawn up at its mee­ting on Decem­ber 13, 2019. On the basis of the report, the fol­lo­wing are now to be stra­te­gic gui­de­lines be deve­lo­ped so that Switz­er­land can fur­ther estab­lish its­elf as one of the lea­ding inno­va­ti­ve loca­ti­ons for rese­arch and deve­lo­p­ment in the field of AI. At the same time, it is important to reco­gnize the risks asso­cia­ted with the appli­ca­ti­on of arti­fi­ci­al intelligence.

State­ment of the Fede­ral Council

1. the report “Chal­lenges of Arti­fi­ci­al Intel­li­gence” of the inter­de­part­ment­al working group “Arti­fi­ci­al Intel­li­gence” of 13.12.2019, com­mis­sio­ned by the Fede­ral Coun­cil, addres­ses the socie­tal and ethi­cal chal­lenges of the appli­ca­ti­on of arti­fi­ci­al intel­li­gence (AI). The report sta­tes that the the exi­sting legal frame­work is in prin­ci­ple also appli­ca­ble to dis­cri­mi­na­ti­on that may result from AI systems (e.g. Equa­li­ty Act [GLG; SR 151.1]). In addi­ti­on, the draft revi­si­on of the Data Pro­tec­tion Act with regard to AI-based, auto­ma­ted indi­vi­du­al decis­i­ons pro­vi­des for various obli­ga­ti­ons for the respon­si­ble pri­va­te per­son or fede­ral body (see BBl 2017 7193).

Nevert­hel­ess, future AI appli­ca­ti­on pos­si­bi­li­ties may have new legal impli­ca­ti­ons. The Fede­ral Coun­cil is moni­to­ring this deve­lo­p­ment clo­se­ly. If it con­clu­des that the cur­rent legal basis is not suf­fi­ci­ent to satis­fac­to­ri­ly address new risks, it will take the neces­sa­ry measures.

2. the fede­ral government’s digi­tal poli­cy places peo­p­le at the cen­ter of an inclu­si­ve demo­cra­tic infor­ma­ti­on and know­ledge socie­ty. The prin­ci­ples enshri­ned in the over­ar­ching Fede­ral Coun­cil stra­tegy “Digi­tal Switz­er­land” must be imple­men­ted in all are­as of the fede­ral admi­ni­stra­ti­on (see www.digitaldialog.swiss). In the con­text of sec­to­ral poli­ci­es, it is also one of the cen­tral tasks of the fede­ral govern­ment to take ethi­cal aspects into account and – whe­re neces­sa­ry – to con­duct a social dia­lo­gue on ethi­cal challenges.

With the launch of the Natio­nal Rese­arch Pro­gram on “Digi­tal Trans­for­ma­ti­on” (NRP 77), the Fede­ral Coun­cil wants the cau­se-effect rela­ti­on­ships as well as the con­cre­te effects of the digi­tal trans­for­ma­ti­on in Switz­er­land to be inve­sti­ga­ted. The three focal points of the pro­gram are (1) edu­ca­ti­on and lear­ning; (2) ethics, trust­wort­hi­ness and gover­nan­ce; and (3) eco­no­my and labor mar­ket (see www.nfp77.ch). In the inter­na­tio­nal con­text, Switz­er­land is com­mit­ted to ensu­ring that ethi­cal rules of con­duct deve­lop and are obser­ved in the digi­tal world. To this end, Switz­er­land is actively invol­ved in various inter­na­tio­nal orga­nizati­ons and pro­ce­s­ses (e.g., the Coun­cil of Euro­pe, the OECD, UNESCO, and as host of the “AI for Good Glo­bal Summit”).

3 The Fede­ral Coun­cil endea­vors to ensu­re appro­pria­te repre­sen­ta­ti­on by lan­guage regi­on and gen­der in the Fede­ral Admi­ni­stra­ti­on. To this end, it has defi­ned tar­get values and indi­ca­tors and taken cor­re­spon­ding mea­su­res in the Fede­ral Administration’s 2016 – 2019 per­son­nel stra­tegy. The­se are also to be con­tin­ued in the new per­son­nel stra­tegy Fede­ral Admi­ni­stra­ti­on 2020 – 2023. In par­ti­cu­lar, the aim is to increa­se the pro­por­ti­on of women in manage­ment sala­ry cate­go­ries. This should have a posi­ti­ve impact on the pro­por­ti­on of women in inter­nal fede­ral bodies and the Fede­ral Coun­cil will con­ti­n­ue to moni­tor this. In addi­ti­on, a pro­fes­sio­nal­ly balan­ced com­po­si­ti­on is also signi­fi­cant. In the Govern­ment and Admi­ni­stra­ti­on Orga­nizati­on Ordi­nan­ce [RVOV; SR. 172.010.1], the Fede­ral Coun­cil also sti­pu­la­tes that at least 30 per­cent of extra-par­lia­men­ta­ry com­mis­si­ons must be made up of women (Art. 8c) and must have ade­qua­te repre­sen­ta­ti­on of lan­guage com­mu­ni­ties (Art. 8cbis).