Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh Launches Arab Initiative for the Development of an AI Governance System
AMMAN - HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh,
founder and chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global Digital (TAG.GD), announced
that work is underway to develop an Arab system for the governance of
artificial intelligence (AI), with the aim to help governments build national
frameworks to regulate the use of technology and ensure its use in a manner
that serves Arab communities and economies.
In this context, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh decided
to establish an independent Arab authority for AI governance and entrusted HE
Mr. Yacoub Al Sarraf, Lebanon’s former minister of national defense, with chairing
it. The authority is tasked with the development of governance frameworks and
proposing them to Arab countries, and supporting Arab governments in building
and implementing them.
For his part, Mr. Al-Sarraf stated
that the authority has begun working on formulating an integrated AI governance
system, in preparation to present it to all Arab countries, stating that the
goal is to interpret the vision of Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh, in making AI a source of
good, interest and prosperity of the Arab communities and economies, while
minimizing the potential negative impact and technology of this technology.
Furthermore, he said that the
proposed system is based on establishing a national AI commission
in each country that leads and manages
national governance framework, pointing
out that this entity will draft an Arabic language charter and law, that will
be ready to be adopted by the governments, in line with the recommendation of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO on
the Ethics of AI and the Riyadh Compact
on AI in the Islamic world.
Describing AI as the greatest
opportunity of our age and the most dangerous at the same time, Mr. Al-Sarraf
considered that the responsibility of the Arab countries lies in developing the
AI frameworks models before they are required to adopt regulatory models
developed abroad.
He also affirmed that the Authority
is working on developing a system of Arab origin and global standards that
ensures artificial intelligence remains in the service of humanity and society.
He explained that the next phase would witness the gradual announcement of the
system’s components and their presentation to Arab governments, as well as
relevant regional and international organizations.
Additionally, he noted that the Authority
intends to launch pilot deployments of the system in a number of Arab countries
ahead of expanding its implementation on a wider scale.