AI regulation

Results of the 2nd AI&ED Conference

Christian M. Stracke

I was very pleased to co-organize the Second Conference “Regulating the Use of AI Systems in Education” on 24th and 25th of October 2024 in Strasbourg. During this interactive event, the Council of Europe invited all stakeholders to discuss the needs for international regulation of AI in education.

Overall, this 2nd AI&ED Conference was a huge success. It brought together all relevant stakeholder groups (researchers, teachers, students, enterprises, public authorities, policy makers and NGOs) which was considered as a strong asset and advantages. And a need for a 3rd Working Conference in 2025 was expressed to discuss in detail the upcoming proposals for the international AIED convention as binding legal instrument and the AI Literacy Toolbox that will be developed in the meantime.

The 2nd Conference facilitated a deep exchange of experiences and engaged discussions in the interactive sessions. While this combination was highly appreciated, many participants demanded for more general debates and group work dedicated to specific topics in parallel sessions. During a 3rd Conference in 2025, the sharing of experiences could be facilitated through pre-recorded videos and publication distributed in advance to allow more time for the general debates and group work collaboration.

In summary, the following recommendations were made:

  • Responsibility: In all AIED processes and aspects, there is always a human-to-human responsibility as the AI systems are developed, designed, implemented, offered and used by human beings with their specific responsibilities for the impacts of their activities.
  • Evidence: There is a strong need for evidence-based research to collect and analyse large-scale data and information about the impacts of AIED and AI Literacy implementations.
  • Holistic approach: The regulation of the AI use in Education (AIED) always requires the Education about AI (AI Literacy).
  • Policy makers: Representatives from CoE member states and their public authorities should present their ideas, proposals and action plans related to future AIED and AI Literacy.

Finally, the urgency of AI regulation in education as a special sector was confirmed: Current legal frameworks, such as GDPR and the EU AI Act, are insufficient to address education-specific challenges, particularly concerning children’s rights. It is important that the legal instrument for the AI regulation in education planned by the Council of Europe is aligned and complementary to the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, as well as to serve the core values of the Council of Europe, namely: human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.

More information about the Programme of the 2nd AI&ED Conference by the Council of Europe: https://opening-up.education/second-conference-on-ai-regulation-in-education-by-the-council-of-europe

More information about the mandate of the Council of Europe for the AI regulation in education can be found here: https://opening-up.education/mandate-for-aied-regulation-by-european-ministers

2nd Conference on AI&ED by the Council of Europe

Christian M. Stracke

Registration still open until 1st of September 2024

The Council of Europe invites you to the Second Conference “Regulating the Use of AI Systems in Education” on 24th and 25th of October 2024 in Strasbourg. Registration is still possible online until 1st of September 2024. With this interactive event, the Council of Europe wants to discuss the necessary international regulation of AI in education.

The conference is being organized by members of the AI&ED Expert Group, including myself currently developing research on artificial intelligence and open education at the Scientific University IT and Data Centre. The AI&ED Expert Group was appointed by the Council of Europe to support it in the development of a specific European law on the ethical use of AI in education. This planned EU regulation on AI in education was mandated by the Ministers of Education in 2023 and will be presented and discussed at the conference.

The EU Commission, EU Parliament and governments have now agreed on the adoption of the AI Act as the first international cross-sectoral AI regulatory law and published it. However, the education sector is left out and the Council of Europe wants to close this gap, for which it received a mandate from all European education ministries in September 2023. To this end, the Council of Europe has appointed the AI&ED Expert Group, which is now preparing the draft AI law and recommendations for AI curricula. The first interim results were presented in a workshop at the AIED Conference 2024 in Recife (http://aied2024.learning-innovations.eu) and discussed with participants from all universities worldwide. The aim is to adopt and publish the draft as an EU law as soon as possible in order to enable the ethical and safe use of AI in universities worldwide.

Conference website by the Council of Europe: https://www.coe.int/en/web/education/-/working-conference-on-regulating-the-use-of-ai-systems-in-education

Conference agenda on 24th and 25th of October 2024 in Strasbourg: https://rm.coe.int/2nd-working-conference-on-regulating-the-use-of-ai-systems-in-educatio/1680b0dfcd

More about the initiative by the Council of Europe for the international AI regulation in education: https://opening-up.education/mandate-for-aied-regulation-by-european-ministers

My invited speech at EUNIS 2024

Christian M. Stracke

I was pleased to be invited speaker at the Congress EUNIS 2024 in Athens:

On 4th of June 2024, I was explaining the current situation in relattion to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

My title was “Artificial Intelligence Regulation” and I was mainly focusing the AI Act and the upcoming law for using AI in education.

The AI Act as a general approach is applicable for all sectors. It is based on an impact assessment and the distinction between four levels of potential AI risks. During the development, generative AI (genAI) became popular and it was introduced as an addition category maybe causing future conflict with the four risk levels.

Education is a special sector that requires special attention:
Therefore, the Council of Europe and its appointed AI&ED Expert Group are working on a complementary law especially for the use of AI in education. It will set the framework and boundaries for ethical AI use in teaching and learning processes.

More about EUNIS 2024 and the AI workshop: https://eunis.org/blog/events/security-challenges-and-the-benefits-of-ai/

My slides are available here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11568575