Maja Fjaestad works at the European Commission’s new AI office
Maja Fjaestad is rarely in Sweden since she was one of the 140 Europeans that started the EU AI agency in December. It is engineers, lawyers, economists and political scientists who build an organization for the EU to be strong in AI development.
Now she puts on the sunglasses outside the Sagerska palace to protect herself against the strong rays of the spring sun. The tears flow. But she is anything but depressed.
Many warns of how AI will take over and how we should be controlled by the technology, instead of the other way around. But not Maja Fjaestad. We have been the fear of « the crazy scientist » throughout the 20th century, she says.
– I’m probably most afraid of what will happen to our democracy. Now I become bombastic, but the reason it feels great to work for the EU – and why I stretch my back when I walk through the doors in Brussels – is that in this messy world we live in, the EU is really a democratic center, she says and continues:
– I’m afraid of the world situation and I can be afraid of a third world war. But I’m not afraid of AI. Man is more dangerous.
She emphasizes that in the interview she pronounces herself as herself and not as a language pipeline for the European Commission. And the person Maja Fjaestad, 48, is worried about the strong anti -democratic wave that has swept over the world in recent years. That the power of democracy is threatened by despotic leaders and resource -rich global companies with only profit interests. Will the EU be able to resist?
– Yes! Right now, the EU is strong and progressive, she notes.
But can’t the EU prevent a positive development in business? Will it be too much regulation?
– I get both angry and provoked by this rhetoric that innovation and regulation resist. There is no one who says that we should not have speed regulation because it would hinder innovation in the automotive industry. No, we have entered the car in a legal context. We have seat belts, roads, signs, driving licenses and understanding of what a car is. Rather, regulation drives innovation.
Maja Fjaestad is not new for difficult challenges. She was the one who would coordinate the government office during the pandemic. Crisis management was her everyday life for several years.
« I can still remember how it felt, » she says.
To be constantly being Prepared to control, she carries with her, as well as the friendship she built with several people during the difficult time. One of them is the former Director General of the Public Health Authority, Johan Carlson. His birthday she has marked in the calendar.
The Social Democratic government lost the election, and then Maja Fjaestad also lost her position as politically appointed secretary of state. When the European Commission decided to build up the AI office in Brussels, she understood that it was a dream job for her, with her background as a civil engineer, technology researcher and a great interest in social issues and history of ideas.
The new AI Agency has five different units, which work with regulation, AI security, research, political coordination and a unit that will design how to get the best social benefit from AI. This is where Maja Fjaestad, as one of the few Swedes, works.
– I work on the unit called « AI for Societyal Good » in English. It sounds so « cheesy » (clichéd). But we should look at how to improve society with the help of AI. It’s a lovely question to work with! she says, smiling big.
– There are lots of commercial reasons to want AI, but what is the social interest of AI? On the one hand, it is crisis preparedness, my old interest. But also how to predict floods and extreme heat. Or in the middle of a crisis, as during a forest fire, when you have satellite pictures, you have decision makers, fire brigades in place and you may have been injured: how can all the best information? This type of complex information is an ideal area for AI.
In addition, the unit works to see how to develop smart cities, AI for cancer recognition and planning of the reconstruction the parts of Ukraine that were damaged during the war.
Maja Fjaestad believes that technology is a political issue and that technology development does not go by itself.
– We need to choose what to use AI for and we need to drive a social responsibility. We can’t just sit back. There are lots of ways that AI is used that are non-transparent and non-democratic. And the only way to handle it is through politics and regulation.
A few weeks ago It became clear that Meta and Apple will pay multi -billion fines for not following EU legislation. In Meta’s case, it is about how the company handles users’ personal data and data. The newly established AI act, or the AI regulation, which partly began to apply last year regulates sensitive data collection and use.
– Sometimes people say « data is the new oil ». But that’s not true. Data is the new blood. And just like blood banks, we have to store it well. It is the most sensitive we have, says Maja Fjaestad.
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