A leading expert in AI is urging lawmakers to rapidly pass new legislation to regulate Agentic AI, a ground-breaking new form of AI capable of completing complex goal-oriented tasks without the need of a human prompt.
President of the European Responsible AI Office (EURAIO) Nell Watson made the call today during her keynote speech at Learnovation 2024, the annual summit on the future of work and learning, which took place at the Aviva Stadium.
Alongside her role as head of the EURAIO, Nell is an executive consultant for Apple and a senior scientific advisor to The Future Society, an independent non-profit focused on developing and implementing governance mechanisms for AI. She has also been a senior fellow to The Atlantic Council, a US think tank.
The theme of Learnovation 2024 is ‘Navigating the Future of Learning’, with speakers and workshops focused on preparing learners for the challenges of the 21st century and the future of work. Learnovation is the annual summit organised by The Learnovate Centre, a leading global future of work and learning research hub funded by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland and based at Trinity College Dublin.
Nell told Learnovation 2024 this morning that autonomous Agentic AI represents a significant upgrade on traditional AI and generative AI models which require human prompts. In response, industry must prepare workers for the introduction of the technology with new workplace training and upskilling programmes that teach innovative and independent thinking.
She also told the conference that, while applications of Agentic AI will have positive effects for many, especially those with disabilities, lawmakers and officials must still move quickly to pass new laws and regulations to defend workers’ rights from bad corporate actors.
They must also, she says, legislate to ensure developers impose limits on the AI itself so that it does not breach the law while working to achieve its goals.
President of the European Responsible AI Office Nell Watson says:
“Agentic AI promises to dramatically change the world of work and learning. It’s vital that we start preparing people for that change through education, training and upskilling, and new laws and regulations to ensure that the rights of people are not sacrificed in the pursuit of corporate profit.
“This technology has vast potential. Applications in virtual reality will allow people to learn new skills in low-stakes virtual environments. It will make learning more inclusive with applications for people with reduced hearing or sight loss, or those with speech issues. Applying Agentic AI to learning will have life-changing effects for many people. However, it remains hugely important that officials take action now to regulate this technology and protect workers’ rights before Agentic AI becomes ubiquitous, rather than spend valuable time playing catch-up later.”
Director of The Learnovate Centre, Nessa McEniff, said:
“Learnovation 2024 is looking at some extremely interesting and topical issues including how to recognise and remove barriers for innovation in learning and how to embed AI in education in ways that are both effective and responsible. We will also explore AI’s role in learning technology and focus on corporate learning in the 21st Century and how to prepare for the challenges of the future workplace.”
The event’s host is Dr. Mary Kelly, Academic Dean at Hibernia College, who also gave the opening address.
Other speakers at Learnovation 2024 include:
— Richard Culatta, CEO at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Association for Supervision of Curriculum Development (ASCD), non-profit global education organisations based in Washington that are focused on accelerating innovation in education and elevating learning to meet the needs of all students.
— Dr Nigel Paine, Global Thought Leader and ex-CLO of the BBC. Nigel has more than 25 years of experience in corporate learning and is a regular speaker, writer and broadcaster on the topics of learning and development, technology and leadership.
— Dr Ann Devitt, Head of the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin. Ann is an Associate Professor of Language Education at the School of Education. She is the Academic Director of the Learnovate Centre and has extensive research experience in both academia and industry.
Other speakers include: Prof. Mairéad Pratschke, Professor and Chair in Digital Education at University of Manchester; Elliott Masie, Chair MASIE Learning Foundation & MASIE Productions; Christopher Mathews, Global Education Team Strategy and Partnership Lead, Amazon Web Services; Piero Tintori, CEO and founder of Terminalfour and BetterExaminations; Peter Fagerström, founder and Executive Chairman of Educraftor.
