CiTIUS spearheads Spain’s AI ethics debate

CiTIUS, the University of Santiago de Compostela’s Singular Research Centre on Intelligent Technologies, a member of the CIGUS Network, an initiative launched by the regional government (Xunta de Galicia) that groups together centres of accredited scientific excellence, proposed a forum for debate on the humanistic values and ethical principles that should guide the development of Artificial Intelligence. Last Thursday and Friday, the Ramón Areces Foundation hosted the seminar titled ‘The Social Impact of AI’.  

National and international experts gathered to discuss the societal impact of Artificial Intelligence during the forum organised by José María Alonso, a researcher at CiTIUS and coordinator of the Spanish National Network for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (TELSEC4TAI). An alliance consisting of 12 renowned research groups specialising in the field and known as TELSEC4TAI, the acronym for  Technological, Ethical, Legal, Social, Economic, and Cultural issues for Trustworthy AI.  

TELSEC4TAI played a key role during the sessions, presenting details from various perspectives of its shared strategy to raise social awareness of the importance of advancing towards a new generation of smart and ‘responsible’ devices. 

Z-Inspection®: The independent tool for assessing the reliability and ethics of AI-based technologies  

The event also provided a platform for showcasing the practical applications of the protocol defined by Z-Inspection®, the first independent tool designed to assess the reliability and ethics of AI-based technologies. Launched in Finland in 2020 by researcher Roberto Zicari as a non-profit initiative, today it boasts 37 partner entities worldwide, including 26 laboratories, 9 institutions, and 2 research projects. Among these is CiTIUS, which, in 2023, became the first Spanish institution to adopt the protocol.

Z-Inspection® is presented as “a holistic system for assessing the trustworthiness of intelligent systems,” developed in line with European Union standards as a comprehensive “checklist.” The tool is based on the contributions of a multidisciplinary group of experts from various fields, tasked with identifying and analysing ethical issues and tensions in complex socio-technical scenarios.

José M. Alonso, a CiTIUS researcher and co-organiser of The Social Impact of AI seminar with Professor Ramón López de Mántaras, stressed the importance of this event “in integrating TELSEC4TAI’s work with Z-Inspection®in order to address the impact of AI on society in diverse fields such as education, economics and healthcare”. Alonso, who in autumn 2023 spearheaded CiTIUS’s participation in this global initiative, described the event as “a milestone in promoting ethical and responsible AI, which will ultimately benefit society as a whole.”