A VIEW FROM BRUSSELS

by Public Affairs specialist Katie LaZelle

Katie is a transplanted American who has lived and worked in Brussels for 12 years. She’s spent time at the European Parliament and as an agency consultant; speaks and works in both French and English and loves being based in Belgium. Katie always provides a smart perspective on all things EU and so Creation asked her to tell us about how the various EU bodies are thinking about legislating for our future world.

Wherever you turn these days, we’re being told we’re mere moments from a fully functioning robot world. However, there’s also a growing awareness in Brussels that we will have to overcome some basic regulatory hurdles before robots are cooking us breakfast or taking care of our elderly family members.

For one, there’s no urban planning for robots yet in Europe. It sounds absurd, until you learn that an EU-funded rubbish collection robot took months to beta test because the scientists couldn’t find cities that were willing. Only after much coaxing was the DUSTBOT team able to find a handful of mayors (including one from Bilbao, Spain) that saw the possible gains as outweighing the liability risks. In order to overcome some of these challenges, in 2003 Japan set up Tokku Special Zones for testing robots in real environments in order to create a framework for exploring the robot-society interface and gather real data to improve robot functionality and learning.

From a legal and regulatory perspective, the ownership of machine-generated data is a hazy topic — does the data belong to the machine, its manufacturer or the individual from which it has been collected? Some think it depends on the context, meaning sensitive personal gathered at home or related to your health would count as unequivocally yours, while data collected in the supermarket or while using public transport could be available for others to collect, process and use. Others argue the uniqueness or identifiability of the data should be the determining factor.

Robotics and AI are also a growing area of interest for the European Parliament. With an Own Initiative Report on Civil law rules on robotics under discussion since 2015, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are making an attempt to wrestle with these issues. Under the leadership of Luxembourgish Socialist MEP Mady Delvaux, the report collects different views on ethics, programming, registration, research and innovation and liability.

The Commission, on the other hand, has decided to take a broader look at the ecosystem in which these technologies will exist and has recently launched a Communication and consultation exercise on Building a European data economy. Working together, EU policy makers hope to help drive science, not slow it down.

Creation: Being Human

An exploration of the effect of technology, innovation and rapid change on the human condition (and the implications for brands and marketers)

)
Creation: Open Minds

Written by

Global communications agency. Got a marketing challenge that needs fresh thinking? We're creative problem solvers, working with some of the world's best brands.

Creation: Being Human

An exploration of the effect of technology, innovation and rapid change on the human condition (and the implications for brands and marketers)

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade