"AI brings great value and we need everyone to understand it"

The use of AI will help us meet some of the major societal challenges of our time, develop welfare and strengthen Swedish competitiveness. The technology that is increasingly becoming a natural part of our everyday lives will be able to offer completely new opportunities. But this is based on people being able to trust the AI around them and feel confident that ethical considerations have been made when the solutions have been developed.

In light of this, IT&Telekomföretagen has developed an industry code and list of questions to give businesses guidance in their work to develop AI solutions. Conny Svensson, Head of AI Transformation at AI Sweden, formerly responsible for AI and digital transformation at CGI, has been involved in developing the guidelines.

- We know how to deal with human intelligence and humans have a contract with each other. In the same way, we need to deal with AI. It is a new intelligence coming into our organizations. AI will be able to advise, help us make decisions and influence people's lives.

He gives an example of how an AI could provide decisions on social benefits:

- A negative decision that is wrong can have disastrous consequences. An administrator can also make an incorrect decision, but it is a human with responsibility that we can reason with. It is easy to build in regulations on how an AI should act, but we also need soft values and ethics.

He explains in more detail how to use the AI branch code and the list of questions:

- The guidelines are intended as practical guidance to be used before, during and after an AI project. They are aimed at both management and those working in the project. It is not about concrete tips but rather; have you thought about this?

- It's about making AI work in the operational model that already exists in the organization. Each organization has its own culture and tools, so it is important that the guidelines are complementary and do not conflict with existing procedures.

Conny highlights how large international companies have been working with AI for some time and that we need a Swedish perspective. Among IT and telecom companies, there are real AI solutions that are of great use in both business and the public sector. Here, the industry code is important in how to build the solutions and to educate the customer.

He also argues that we need a nuanced dialogue about AI in public opinion, as a positive force and enabler, while we need a healthy approach to the risks. He also raises the issue of understanding AI and the importance of addressing digital divides:

- AI can provide great value and we need to get everyone to understand it and to be involved so that it does not become a question of digital divides. It is an educational issue that we need to address.

He concludes by highlighting his hopes for the guidelines:

- I hope that the guidelines will become an integral part of all AI initiatives and that they will lead to good discussions and reflection.

Read the guidelines here:

Industry code for responsible AI

Question list for responsible AI