An advisory board for the government and a service centre for companies and the public – these are the two new measures for dealing with artificial intelligence presented by the Austrian federal government on December 12. Florian Tursky, State Secretary for Digitalisation, has appointed Walter Peissl, technology assessor with expertise in privacy and security at the Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, to the committee.

Peissl emphasises: "At the ITA, we have been conducting research on AI for over a decade, for example when it comes to questions of social impact, data protection or privacy. AI is more than just ChatGPT, it affects us all." For example, the ITA is currently running projects on dealing with AI in the world of work and the increasing use of automated decision-making in the welfare sector.

Service centre for AI issues being set up

The kick-off for the official AI Service Centre Austria and the presentation of the AI Advisory Board took place at the Federal Ministry of Finance. The aim of the service centre is to create transparency and legal certainty and to make the opportunities and innovations available to companies.

Peissl is pleased "that social responsibility will also play an important role in the use of AI in the interdisciplinary advisory board. It will be important for the success of AI in Austria that the service centre will also be a low-threshold contact point for citizens and consumers."