“Recent breakthroughs in deep learning have created the illusion that deep learning will solve all of AI. This illusion is false as truly intelligent machines should not only learn but also reason, just like humans do. Self-driving cars, for instance, must comply with, and hence, reason about traffic regulations. The long-term promise of AI can only be realised by fostering all AI techniques. A too narrow focus is like claiming that the important invention of rubber tires in the automobile industry could also lead to better engines.”
Luc De Raedt, EurAI Fellow, ERC Advanced Grant, KU Leuven, Belgium.
ABOUT US
Strategically located in the capital of EU, CLAIRE Brussels Office plays a crucial role in the strategic planning and decision-making processes for the CLAIRE Network. CLAIRE Belgian office in Brussels has been initiated to strengthen the Network’s ties and visibility within both the Belgian AI community and the EU institutions. Officially established on 31 January 2020, CLAIRE Brussels aims to translate CLAIRE vision into activities for the Belgian AI community and in providing actionable and timely information on AI developments for policy-makers, the industry, NGOs, researchers, students, and the general public
We are currently hosted by FARI AI Institute for the Common Good, with physical office at BeCentral – Brussels’ digital revolution hub backed by 60 tech companies right in the city’s central station. CLAIRE Brussels is backed by eight steering committee members composed of AI experts from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), UCLouvain, Ghent University, and University of Liège. CLAIRE Brussels is also actively involved in the confederation’s industry network projects, communication and outreach, as well as in several task forces that forward CLAIRE’s vision for a human-centred European AI.
EVENTS
Sustainability & Robotics Series – Webinar 1: Getting Started!
7 March 2023 | 15:00 CET | online
CLAIRE | Brussels
Robotics and AI hold great promise to help solve the challenges related to sustainability, while there is at the same time the possibility that they outbalance the positive impact they aim to achieve. It is up to the AI and Robotics community to shape their role on how to help address sustainability and strive for a positive impact only.
This first webinar focuses on
- How AI and Robotics can help to address the challenges of sustainability.
- Why the AI and Robotics community should consider sustainability as an integrated part of their work.
- What the challenges are for academia and industry in AI and Robotics to balance the positive and negative contributions towards sustainability.
Let’s get started!
Register here.
What is Ethics Washing in Artificial Intelligence? How to address and regulate it?
Just like in other technological domains, in recent years there has been a proliferation of ethical guidelines and declarations in Artificial Intelligence. Private companies, public organizations and researchers are increasingly expected to demonstrate their awareness of these standards and to show intentions and plans on how to apply them.
The main narrative is that, because of the ever increasing presence of AI systems in our daily lives, the ethical and societal risks of AI need to be addressed. This is why many organizations have now written their own charters of values, codes of conduct in AI, and declaration of principles.
However, in line with what has been observed with Sustainability (and other domains), some organizations and individuals in the field of AI might pretend having an interest in Ethics for various reasons. This practice, called “ethics washing”, can often occur in the absence of strong regulation – but not only. Ethics can be used as a non-binding tool to publicly demonstrate good intentions – while not necessarily meeting these claimed commitments. Beyond the virtue-signaling efforts and potential marketing strategies, this event will take a closer look at this phenomenon, especially questioning how to address this issue from a regulatory, scientific and societal point of view.
This event is organized by FARI – AI for the Common Goood Institute (ULB-VUB, Brussels), jointly with the Law Science Technology and Society Group (VUB). It will be animated by Simone Casiraghi (LSTS). Our panel of experts:
- Dominic Martin, Professor in Applied Ethics, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
- Pr Sylvie Delacroix, The Alan Turing Institute, United Kingdom
- Dr Katherine O’Keefe, Castlebridge, Ireland
Past events:
CLAIRE | Brussels Office Launch – AI Innovation Strategy: Public Policy Making
- Friday 25 June 2021 | 15:00–17:00 PM CEST
CLAIRE Brussels Symposium
- Friday 7 September 2018 | 9:30 – 18:00 CEST
OUR TEAM
Hans De Canck
Chair
Carl Mörch
Co-Chair
Ida Velthoven
AI Policy Assistant
OUR STEERING COMMITTEE
Ann Nowé
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Bart De Moor
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Bontempi Gianluca
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Hugues Bersini
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Luc De Raedt
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Pierre Dupont
UCLouvain
Pierre Geurts
University of Liège
Tijl De Bie
Ghent University
CLAIRE NETWORK MEMBERS IN BELGIUM
Research Network:
- Artificial Intelligence Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels (contact: Katrien Beuls)
- BeCool and Machine Learning Group, ICTEAM, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve (contact: Siegfried Nijssen)
- Beyond the Horizon International Strategic Studies Group, Brussels (contact: Hasan Suzen)
- Business Informatics research group @ Hasselt University, Hasselt University, Hasselt (contact: Benoît Depaire)
- CLiPS Computational Linguistics Group, University of Antwerp, Antwerp (contact: Walter Daelemans)
- Department of Computer Science, KU Leuven, Leuven (contact: Hendrik Blockeel)Lab for Declarative Languages and Artificial Intelligence (contact: Luc De Raedt)
- EAVISE (Vision — AI — Embedded), KU Leuven, Sint-Katelijne-Waver (contact: Joost Vennekens)
- IMEC, Leuven (contact: Stefan Van Baelen)
- Machine Learning Group, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels (contact: Tom Lenaerts)
- MONA, VITO, Mol (contact: Bart Elen)
- UGent.ai, Ghent University, Ghent (contact: Tijl De Bie, Piet Demeester)
- IDLab, Ghent University – IMEC, Ghent (contact: Erik Mannens) (also in IMEC)
- VUB Data Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels (contact: Tias Guns)
CONTACT
CLAIRE Brussels Office
FARI AI Institute for the Common Good
3rd Flr., BeCentral
Kantersteen 10/12,
1000 Brussel, Belgium
