The Aspen Institute Germany, in partnership with the Aspen Institute network of International Partners, hosted the NextGen Network in Berlin, the second workshop in the network supported by Microsoft to bring the NextGen perspective on the impact of technology on society. The workshop brought together 30 startup founders, innovators, policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs, civil society activists, and leaders from the youth auxiliaries of Germany’s main political parties, and established politicians. The group was tasked with examining the opportunities provided by artificial intelligence (AI), as well as to pinpoint the ethical challenges this technology poses for Germany and Europe in light of a dignity-based social contract and other core societal values.

Above all else, Germany’s future AI and Machine Learning (ML) leaders underscored the need for human dignity, trust and transparency in AI policymaking, as well as greater consumer agency over how their data is used. The basis for most policy recommendations was the founding of quasi-governmental institutions that would create instruments to vet new AI technologies and policies in line with these core German and European values. This demonstrated participants’ trust in public institutions to take a leading role in mitigating ambivalence surrounding AI/ML.

The NextGen Network series, entitled Building the Future: Addressing the opportunities and challenges of an AI-enabled world, serve as active workshops to create a feedback mechanism for the informed perspectives of millennials on how societies should prepare themselves to respond to new technologies and inform policy discussions at the local and international level.

First step towards shaping ethical #AI policy in Germany: identifying what core values will be most important to emphasize when thinking about artificial intelligence development and society. @AspenInstitute @Microsoft #NextGenNetwork pic.twitter.com/kY5iImpBpJ

— Aspen Germany (@AspenGermany) December 7, 2018