11.03.2025

"Towards a Transatlantic Roadmap for AI Regulation"

Delegation of the IZEW (Andreas Baur, Jana Hecktor, Prof. Dr. Jessica Heesen, and Lisa Koeritz) at the jointly organized conference from March 27-28, 2025, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

AI systems are playing an increasingly significant role in our (sometimes very private) daily lives. Therefore, the regulation of this technology is gaining importance globally, although there are often national differences in its implementation. An interdisciplinary exchange on AI technology and its regulations from a transatlantic perspective is not only productive and relevant but also timely.

Co-organized by and with the participation of IZEW researchers, the conference titled "Towards a Transatlantic Roadmap for AI Regulation" will be held at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, USA, from March 27-28, 2025. The conference will address these relevant topics from a range of diverse disciplines and perspectives.

As part of the long-standing transatlantic partnership between the two universities, in which IZEW has significantly contributed to the dialogue on ethical and societal implications of AI, data sciences, and digitalization in recent years, eight researchers from Tübingen will travel to the USA to attend the conference in Chapel Hill. In addition to IZEW researchers Andreas Baur, Prof. Dr. Jessica Heesen, Jana Hecktor, and Lisa Koeritz, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Bernd Heinrich and Dr. Tommaso Fia from the Faculty of Law, Prof. Dr. Tanja Thomas from the Institute of Media Studies, and Hüseyin Ates, former guest researcher at the Faculty of Law, will participate in the conference.

Researchers from various institutes at UNC will also be involved, including the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life, the Department of Sociology, the School of Data Science and Society, the School of Law, the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, the School of Information and Library Science, and the Center for Media Law and Policy. This multitude of disciplinary perspectives, arising from the profiles of the researchers and encompassing fields such as philosophy, media ethics, gender studies, governance, law, and computer science, provides the foundation for a productive interdisciplinary dialogue on current challenges and research gaps related to AI regulation. Furthermore, the transatlantic exchange during this conference will offer valuable insights into existing transatlantic differences regarding AI regulation.

To conclude the first day of the conference on Thursday evening, March 27, 2025, Reggie Townsend, Vice President of Data Ethics at the US software company SAS from North Carolina, will deliver a keynote, bringing together the industrial and regulatory perspectives.