The Scottish Government has joined an international alliance on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and space after calls to address the dangers of new technology.
Business minister Richard Lochhead is addressing the first ministerial summit of the Disruptive and Emerging Technology Alliance (DETA) in Barcelona today, The Herald has been told.
The minister told The Herald the alliance will discuss deploying new technology to "maximise growth and improve our public services."
Mr Lochhead will also participate in discussions about potentially joining the European Space Agency’s Zero Debris Charter, which aims to protect essential satellites by eradicating harmful space debris.
It is understood the UK Government is not part of this alliance.
The news comes after SNP MSP Emma Roddick urged the Scottish and UK Governments to do more to tackle the dangers of Artificial intelligence.
Ms Roddick told The Herald she was particularly anxious about cases where the technology has been used to create sexualised images, particularly in schools.
READ MORE:
SNP MSP Emma Roddick in calls for urgent AI regulation
Gender pay gap rises by 30% in Scotland
Carer Support Payment introduced Scotland-wide
DETA brings together 17 nations and aims to promote the benefits of new technology – such as AI, cybersecurity and space - while protecting human rights and democracy across the world.
The initiative will focus on adapting public policies worldwide by anticipating the impact of “disruptive technologies" on societies.
Mr Lochhead said: “By coming together, we can harness the transformative potential of new technologies, such as AI, while ensuring that threats are minimised and human rights protected.
“Scotland is already a world leader in important new markets. We have ambitions to further expand the space sector, which already has more than 200 companies operating in Scotland, and our critical technologies supercluster currently has more than 140 companies generating £3.6 billion for the Scottish economy.
“Working with the world’s most exciting tech economies, we will seek to identify further opportunities for growth and secure new investment.
DETA involves 17 city, regional and devolved governments including Massachusetts, Quebec, the Welsh Government and regions from France, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, Argentina, Japan, USA and Canada.
Its main focus areas are Artificial Intelligence, New Space, Quantum, Cybersecurity and Digital Rights and Tech Regulations.
Governments in DETA are represented by Ministers responsible for Technology and/or Digital Affairs, convening at the annual Ministerial Summit.
DETA’s presidency, chosen by consensus, rotates among member governments biennially. Catalonia holds the rotating presidency in 2024 & 2025.
The UK Government has been contacted for comment.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here