Responsible AI Lab

Pascal Wiggers, associate lector Responsible AI at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, is at the helm of the lab. During his PhD research at Delft University of Technology, Pascal was already concerned with the human side of AI. "At that time, it was still about how you can recognize speech with a computer and how you get information from images. What can now be done in practice was university research back then. But even then, the human side of AI was already occupying my mind. Why are we doing this, for whom and what are the consequences of technology? How can we design it in an ethically and socially responsible way? For example, AI consumes a lot of energy. How do we deal with that and how does it fit into the sustainability issue?"

AI as a philosophy

Ultimately, responsible AI should no longer be a theme in itself, Pascal believes, but a natural part of every development, and every use of AI. "Just like in the 1990s when a handful of people said: 'We need to pay more attention to human-centric interfaces.' Now it's a standard part of the design process. You would also want that with the social and ethical aspects of technology. There is already a lot of attention for responsible AI, but it gets stuck a bit in philosophy and ethical guidelines.

What I want to focus on is the step towards practical action. That is also the unique position of AUAS. How do you ensure that a design or computer programme does not clash with public values, such as privacy, ethics, etc.? If that becomes a matter of course, then we will have done well. In the meantime, I am happy if we can convince more and more people of the necessity."

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