Panel 5 : AI Cultures in MENA
26 April | 3.00 pm | Chair: Audrey Borowski | Venue: Frankopan Hall
Panel/Group Presentations: AI Ethics in the Muslim World: Perspectives from the Gulf Region
Convener: Mohammed Ghaly
Abstracts:
The oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are leading the Muslim world in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In their efforts to move toward knowledge-based economies, these countries hope to achieve returns of up to USD billions from AI. In 2016, an autonomous transportation strategy was launched in Dubai and the world’s first AI Minister was appointed in the UAE. In 2019, a dedicated AI university was established in Abu Dhabi. Moreover, different GCC countries developed their respective AI strategies principles. The Muslim world is no exception to the general rule that technological developments do not work in a vacuum and thus cannot be isolated from people’s moral worlds and ethical frameworks. Throughout the Gulf region, values rooted in the Islamic tradition are an integral part of people’s value system and moral compass. This is true to the extent that many AI applications have found their way into the very domain of religious affairs. Just as representative examples, AI technologies are increasingly employed to make the pilgrimage (hajj) a smart ritual so that it becomes more efficient and convenient. Also, the centuries-old tradition of issuing religious advice (ifta’) has recently been made available through an AI-powered service. On the other hand, available literature shows awareness of the need to address AI ethical questions and associated social risks through the lens of the socio-religious values and cultural norms rooted in the Islamic tradition. Against this background, the multidisciplinary presentations in this panel will explore the various dimensions of AI ethics in the Gulf region, drawing from disciplines such as Computer Engineering, Islamic Studies and Ethics, and Legal Studies.
Presentation 1: AI Projects in the Gulf Region and their Ethical Questions: An Analytical Overview (Ala Al-Fuqaha)
Artificial intelligence (AI) has seen significant growth and development in the Gulf region in recent years. AI driven systems are increasingly utilized in personal and mission-critical applications, including medical diagnosis, autonomous vehicles, smart city infrastructure, smart manufacturing, financing, news, etc. This presentation will provide an overview of (a) the types of AI projects that have taken place in the Gulf region and (b) the main ethical questions that computer engineers, who are active in this region, usually grapple with. Recent years have witnessed several AI projects in the region that cut across a wide range of fields and sectors. With the aim of improving people’s quality of life, different AI projects engage with key sectors in society such as healthcare, transportation and finance. Examples of such projects include the “smart” robots that were introduced by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). Also research institutes and hospitals jointly work on different projects tailored to the national and regional needs of the healthcare sector, e.g., those focusing on prevailing diseases such as diabetes and genetic conditions. To show awareness of the religio-cultural context of the region, different AI projects employ AI technologies to address issues that relate to the Islamic Scriptures (Quran and Sunna) and the overall heritage of Islamic scholarship in addition to the Arabic language Arabic assistant technology, and Arabic sentiments on social media outlets. To pave the way for the second presentation in the panel, this presentation will review the key questions that computer engineers usually face during their work in the Gulf region. Some of these questions relate to the nature of AI technologies, whereas other questions are generated by the religio-cultural context of the region.
Presentation 2: Islamic Ethical Discourse on AI: Three Challenges in Focus (Mohammed Ghaly)
Cutting-edge AI technologies pose tough ethical questions and challenges that cut across people’s geographies, moral convictions and religious beliefs. As for the Islamic ethical discourse, this presentation will analyze three main challenges. First, the applications of AI technologies are creeping into the religious domain with questions about the (im)permissibility of “robotizing” significant Islamic rituals, e.g., replacing the leader of ritual prayer (imam) or the scholar who issues religious advice (mufti) with a robot or AI system. To analyze this challenge, reference will be made to a number of relevant fatwas in addition to the 2019 Dubai initiative to launch the first-of-its-kind AI-powered ‘Virtual Ifta’ service in both English and Arabic. Secondly, the deep and complex AI questions require not only direct answers to subject-specific questions, but also a reconsideration of one's overall worldview. Many Muslims believe that Islam has a comprehensive religio-moral system (Sharia), whose scope is flexible enough to respond to such grand challenges. The concept of ensoulment (nafkh al-ruh), with its theological and juristic dimensions, will be used to illustrate this Sharia-based dimension. This element will also be analyzed in relation to religious scholars' responses to computer engineers' questions about making humanoid robots. Thirdly and of particular relevance to the Gulf region context, are the international discussions on creating "transcultural AI principles". To highlight this challenge, the relevant (semi-)official documents produced by GCC countries will be critically reviewed. These documents extensively engage with widely circulated AI principles like fairness, justice and explainability. On the other hand, they also stress the need to consider the religio-cultural context of the Gulf region. To pave the way for the next presentation in the panel, it will examine how these documents tried to strike a balance between these two aspects of AI ethics so that they can produce an appealing legal and regulatory framework.
Presentation 3: Developing a Legal Framework for AI in Qatar and Beyond (Barry Solaiman)
AI is the target of much research in the GCC region and is being deployed in various sectors for efficiency gains. As with all other countries, there is no specific law regulating this space. The pattern that has arisen in the region is much the same as elsewhere. Namely, experts have identified specific concerns and challenges of AI. They seek to adapt existing guidelines and laws to regulate the use of AI but find that those laws are lacking. Thus, as a stopgap, they develop soft-law guidelines until legislation is created. To elucidate this process in the region, this presentation examines the developments in Qatar, which is a regional leader on the development of AI. The health sector is used to highlight the dynamics that have arisen owing to the significant attention given to AI in the medical realm. AI raises unique legal challenges owing to its autonomous nature, limitations surrounding explainability, and a plethora of complex data. In medicine, these raise specific issues for patient privacy, informed consent and medical liability, in addition to cultural norms specific to the region. There are existing laws that touch upon those issues, setting the standard of care for medical liability, outlining requirements for informed consent and data processing rules. However, the legal framework as it applies to AI is piecemeal and untargeted. As such, researchers at HBKU in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Health in Qatar have been working to develop soft-law guidelines in the interim to resolve some of the legal gaps. Those guidelines are being tailored for AI healthcare researchers in Qatar. Moving forward, consideration must be given as to how a comprehensive legal framework can be developed from those existing initiatives that applies broadly across sectors.
Author bios: Dr. Ala Al-Fuqaha is a professor and associate provost at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU). His research interests include the use of machine learning in general and deep learning in particular in support of the data-driven and self-driven management of large-scale deployments of IoT and smart city infrastructure and services, ethical aspects of AI deployments, Wireless Vehicular Networks (VANETs), cooperation and spectrum access etiquette in cognitive radio networks, management and planning of software-defined networks (SDN), and engineering education. He is a senior member of the IEEE, a senior member of the ACM, and an ABET Program Evaluator (PEV) and commissioner. He serves on editorial boards of multiple journals, including IEEE Communications Letters, IEEE Network Magazine, and Springer AJSE. He also served as chair, co-chair, and technical program committee member of multiple international conferences, including IEEE VTC, IEEE Globecom, IEEE ICC, and IWCMC.
Dr. Barry Solaiman is an Assistant Professor of Law (HBKU Law, Qatar) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics in Clinical Medicine (Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar). He completed his PhD in law at the University of Cambridge. He is the Lead Project Investigator for a grant research project at HBKU and Project Investigator on another HBKU grant, both examining AI in healthcare. He is co-editing a major book on Health, AI and the Law with Glenn Cohen to be released in 2023. Recent Publications on AI •Barry Solaiman and I. Glenn Cohen (eds), Research Handbook on Health, AI and the Law (Edward Elgar, Forthcoming 2023) • Barry Solaiman and Mark Bloom, ‘AI, Explainability, and Safeguarding Patient Safety in Europe: Towards a Science-Focused Regulatory Model’ in The Future of Medical Device Regulation: Innovation and Protection (Cambridge University Press, 2022) • Barry Solaiman, ‘Addressing Access with Artificial Intelligence: Overcoming the Limitations of Deep Learning to Broaden Remote Care Today’, 51(4) Memphis Law Review 1103-1141 (2021)
Dr. Mohammed Ghaly is professor of Islam and Biomedical Ethics in the Research Center for Islamic Legislation & Ethics (CILE) and adjunct professor in the College of Health and Life Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the Scopus-indexed Journal of Islamic Ethics. He has a B.A. in Islamic Studies from Al-Azhar University (Egypt) and M.A. and PhD in the same specialization from Leiden University (the Netherlands). Islamic Ethics and its intersection with biomedical sciences and artificial intelligence belong to Ghaly’s main research interests. He is the Lead Principal Investigator (LPI) and research consultant of a number of funded research projects related to these research areas. He also published widely on these topics in both English and Arabic. His latest publications with relevance to AI are published in Computers in Biology and Medicine and Computer Science Review.
Presentation 4: Lost History and overlooked Present: Mechanical and Artificial Intelligence in the Arabic culture
Presenter: Reham Hosny
Abstract: The main aim of this presentation is to investigate how social needs and political circumference inform the use of mechanical and artificial intelligence in Arabic culture. Precursors of AI are engendered in many significant inventions that appeared in the Islamic golden age as a response to human needs at that time. The religious activities and social events such as finding the Qibla, determining prayer times and the initial days of Ramadan and Eid were the impetus behind these inventions. For example, helping with ablution and reminding with the prayer time was the reason behind the invention of the first programmable humanoid robot by the Muslim inventor and engineer al-Jazari, who was known as the "father of robotics" in the 13th century. This mechanical kind of intelligence developed by social and religious needs enabled artificial intelligence in the modern age. Artificial intelligence is currently used in the Arabic postcolonial context to perform an activist role for the social good. AI Arabic literary writings use AI techniques and capabilities to enable literary activism and at the same time save authors’ lives living under authoritarian regimes. This study reflects on these two types of mechanical and artificial Intelligence and the ideological and socio-political factors of their development.
Author bio: Dr. Reham Hosny is an award-winning digital creative writer and a British Academy Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. She is an Assistant Professor of digital literary studies and critical theory at Minia University and previously, she was a Lecturer at the University of Leeds, UK. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on investigating the cultural, social, and political contexts of Arabic and Anglo-American electronic literature and digital culture. Her work appears in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Postcolonial Writing and her forthcoming book @ArabicELit: Electronic Literature in the Arab World (Bloomsbury) highlights new aesthetics and perspectives of electronic literature outside the Western electronic literature community. She is an editorial board member of academic journals such as the Journal of Digital Islamicate Research by Brill, and a member of various international research networks such as the Intersections, Feminism, Technology & Digital Humanities network (IFTe) and the Global AI Narrative (GAIN) network in the MENA region. Her co-authored novel, Al-Barrah [The Announcer] (2019, 2021), the first Arabic artificial intelligence novel, won the 2022 Robert Coover Award’s Honorable Mention, and her short story collection Amma Baʿd [and thereafter] (2012) won the Ihsan Abdel Quddous Literary Prize for short story writing. Dr. Hosny is the first Arab and African to be elected as a director at the international Electronic Literature Organization (ELO). She is directing arabicelit, the first initiative focusing on globalizing Arabic electronic literature in English. Dr. Hosny is an invited speaker at many international conferences, workshops, and symposiums in different places around the world.