The Finance Ministers of the world’s 20 leading economies came together before the annual G20 summit. For the first time, the G20 countries agreed on principles for dealing with artificial intelligence. They are spelled out in a joint statement.
According to United World, the document states that developers and users of AI technologies must respect basic legal principles, human rights and democratic values. A “human-centered” approach was also noted. AI systems must be “stable, protected, and reliable” throughout their use and must not carry any unacceptable risks.
The G20 countries agreed to create rules for eliminating tax loopholes being exploited by Facebook, Google, Amazon and other large technology firms, introducing a “digital tax.” A digital tax will help ensure that large corporations pay taxes in all countries in which it provides services.
In addition, IMF head Christine Lagarde had a few words about bigtech and financial stability: “A significant disruption to the financial landscape is likely to come from the big tech firms, who will use their enormous customer bases and deep pockets to offer financial products based on big data and artificial intelligence.”
“China’s technology industry is a prime example of this trade-off between benefits and challenges. Over the last five years, technology growth in China has been extremely successful and allowed millions of new entrants to benefit from access to financial products and the creation of high-quality jobs. But it has also led to two firms controlling more than 90% of the mobile payments market.”
“This presents a unique systemic challenge to financial stability and efficiency, and one I hope we can touch on during the G20, and address in a cooperative and consistent fashion.”