On July 11, 2024, the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, Laurie E. Locascio, and the Director-General of DG Connect, Roberto Viola, initiated a technical dialogue between the European AI Office (EUAIO) and the U.S. AI Safety Institute (USAISI) at the Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
The dialogue, part of the sixth ministerial meeting of the U.S.-E.U. Trade and Technology Council (TTC6), aimed to deepen bilateral collaboration on AI and foster scientific information exchange between the EU and the USA.
Key topics of Focus
USAISI Director Elizabeth Kelly and EUAIO Director Lucilla Sioli led discussions on best practices, key risks, and core AI-related questions. The dialogue focused on three key topics:
- Watermarking and content authentication of synthetic content
- Government compute infrastructure
- AI for societal good
A significant portion of the conversation addressed weather modeling, essential for simulations, forecasts, and anticipating environmental disasters. The session on watermarking included academics and civil society representatives. Experts from various U.S. and European institutions, including the U.S. Department of Energy and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, participated in government discussions.
Both EUAIO and USAISI expressed a shared interest in exploring best practices and tools for watermarking and content provenance. They aim to promote these tools within their respective actions and further scientific and technical exchange on AI safety and trust to address risks from synthetic content. The institutions reiterated their ambition to develop an international network among key partners to advance AI safety science, as articulated at the AI Seoul Summit.
“This dialogue between the AI Safety Institute and EU AI Office highlights the strength of our partnership to facilitate the exchange of the latest scientific approaches and techniques from our experts in order to promote safe and trustworthy AI internationally.”
Laurie E. Locascio, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Source: European Commission
