As AI rapidly grows to become part of our daily life, calls are growing for effective guidelines to ensure the technology is used accordingly. The World Internet Conference (WIC) held a seminar on Sept 18 in Beijing, drawing global experts together both online and offline to discuss international AI standards and strengthen global collaboration. 

The WIC held a seminar on Sept 18 in Beijing. [Photo/wicinternet.org]

The Seminar on International Standards for AI brought together nearly 40 experts and scholars from international organizations, leading enterprises, research institutes, universities, and think tanks, talking about the standardization of AI on a global scale and the preparations for establishing WIC Specialized Committee on Artificial Intelligence (SC on AI).

The seminar highlighted the initiative of establishing the WIC SC on AI. Leveraging the WIC’s international influence, the committee will focus on key topics such as technological innovation, global governance, and industrial development. Through targeted discussions, knowledge sharing, and the release of public resources, the committee seeks to foster international cooperation and drive the progress of AI standardization, said a representative of the WIC. 

Participants shared their insights on the future work plans of the committee and introduced the ongoing standardization efforts by organizations like ITU, ISO/IEC, and the EU. Along with the discussion on the structure of international standardization bodies and key areas, participants also explored emerging trends and challenges in current AI standards and shared relevant case studies at the seminar. 

During the discussion, experts exchanged their research focus and emphasized the need to advance international AI standards for the global community. They proposed that the committee should leverage its role as an international platform to promote collaboration among experts and enterprises through initiatives such as policy interpretation and training programs, ensuring that AI standards effectively support both AI development and governance.

The representative of the WIC chaired the seminar. Speakers included Wei Kai, director of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology; John Higgins CBE, chairman of the Global Digital Foundation; Liu Jiaqi, chief expert of AI governance and industry development at Huawei; Wang Yuntao, chairman of Q5/16 of ITU-T focus group; and Hao Chunliang, deputy director of the data security research division at the China Electronics Standardization Institute.

Representatives from various international organizations, academic institutes, think tanks, and enterprises including ITU, Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, and Evernote participated in the discussion and exchanged views on the priorities, structure, and prospective outcomes of the forthcoming committee.