The Diplomat
The Autonomous University of Madrid has hosted the first event of “Encuentros X Europa”, a space for dialogue that aims to give young people the chance to get an insight into the future of the EU-27, thanks to the participation of renowned speakers. The initiative has been launched by Canal Europa, the digital media specialising in information on the European institutions; Talent for the Future, the platform promoted by civil society organisations to give young people a voice, and the State Secretariat for the European Union.
The first event, which focused on digitalisation, was attended by Lucía Velasco, former director of the National Observatory of Telecommunications and Information Society and author of the book “¿Te va a dar un algoritmo?”; Lucía Ortíz de Zárate, pre-doctoral researcher in Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI); and Miriam del Río, CEO and managing partner of LEEGALTECH and DPO certified by the AEPD scheme.
The speakers advocated for a sustainable, inclusive and fair digital Europe, with questions such as: Are our rights protected or are we dominated by algorithms without any ethics? Are gender stereotypes being perpetuated in Artificial Intelligence? Is digitalisation compatible with a green European Union? Is it the age of information or disinformation? How do social networks influence mental health and what can be done to prevent it?
Among the major challenges for the future, regulation was identified. A new framework designed for the new activities that have emerged in a digital environment, catapulted by the post-pandemic culture.
The conclusion reached at this first “X Meetings Europe” event was the need to reach international agreements to regulate the rules of the game for new forms of work, the consequences of robotics and artificial intelligence.
This was the first of five scheduled events, which will be held over the next few weeks in different universities in Spain. These meetings will address different topics such as the European Year of Youth, the ecological transition, the Spanish Presidency of the European Union and the demographic challenge.
All the meetings will be available on Canal Europa (www.canaleuropa.es) and its mobile applications.
