Emanuela Girardi

We welcome Emanuela Girardi as the newest member of the CLAIRE Extended Core team, joining 9 others within CLAIRE that provide input to the CLAIRE strategy and activities. Let’s get to know Emanuela!  

Q: How did you first get involved with CLAIRE and what have you been doing with/for the organisation?

A: I joined CLAIRE at the very first meeting in Brussels in September 2018, where 100 people from all over Europe met to develop a strong European initiative on AI. Since then, I have supported the development of CLAIRE in several areas, for instance I am part of the team that is building the Innovation Network, I launched and co-coordinated the COVID-19 taskforce and I represent CLAIRE at international organisation and government meetings.  

Q: What else do you do in the area of AI?

A: I founded an organisation called Pop AI (Popular Artificial Intelligence), we develop initiatives to explain AI technologies to the general public and explain how to use AI in a safe and responsible way. We work with companies to help understand the impact of AI policy and to support them in developing AI projects.

I am a member of the board of directors of AIxIA (Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence), we recently published a study on AI for sustainable development. I am the Secretary General of the IGF Italy (Internet Governance Forum Italy), which is a multistakeholder organisation that promotes policy on technologies that strongly impact people’s lives, such as AI.

I am a board member of ADRA, the AI, Data and Robotics Association that, in partnership with the European Commission, is driving innovation, investments and uptake of these technologies in Europe.

Q: Where do you see the biggest potential for AI in Europe? Where is the biggest need for change?

A: Europe is falling behind in AI development compared to the US and China, due to a lack of coordination and investment. While Europe has all the resources and some of the brightest minds in the space, our efforts are fragmented and underfunded. We need to bring together our expertise and human capital and increase the available funding significantly. Bringing together these capabilities and investment could be compared to creating a CERN for AI.

With the development of AI technologies, based on European values, we can tackle the big challenges of our century. To do so, we need to work united and use our vast resources to ensure Europe attains this leading position. We need to build a European centre for “AI for good”.

Q: What’s special about CLAIRE? What makes you particularly excited about joining the extended core team?

A: CLAIRE brings together the variety of European nationalities and the different areas of AI to build a strong European AI community. It is a very open community, where diversity is considered a value and the different experiences, expertise and background of each member is key to building a successful and sustainable European project. CLAIRE is a truly pan-European initiative on AI and as part of the extended core-team, I feel I can make an even greater contribution to the project and make a concrete impact on the future of AI in Europe.