Preliminary note: In 2019, when the “Universal Artificial Intelligence: Levelling the Playing Field” Conference took place, our current team was a significant part of the international arbitration team at Shearman & Sterling’s Paris office. Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes was established in 2021.
Shearman & Sterling hosted a conference on “Universal Artificial Intelligence: Levelling the Playing Field” in Paris on November 15, 2019 in collaboration with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and BCG Gamma (Boston Consulting Group) at the historical Collège des Bernardins.
Yas Banifatemi conceived the program and acted as moderator throughout the conference.
The day opened with mathematician, Fields Medal winner and politician Cédric Villani, who shared reflections on the scientific, societal and political implications of AI, followed by presentations by high level representatives from the OECD and UNESCO, Karine Perset (Administrator on Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence Policy, Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, OECD) and Moez Chakchouk (Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO), on the work and initiatives of their respective organizations in the field of international cooperation on AI. Sylvain Duranton (BCG GAMMA Global Leader) and Magnus Magnusson (Director, Partnerships and Outreach, Social and Human Sciences Sector, UNESCO) then addressed AI and business, and AI and ethics, focusing on the human factor underlying AI.
The afternoon session showcased applications of AI in the fields of medicine (diagnosis of rare diseases by Anni Coden, Partner and Associate Director, Boston Consulting Group), education (Fengchun Miao, Chief, Unit for ICT in Education, UNESCO), critical systems (Christophe Meyer, Senior Expert, Director of Artificial Intelligence & Data Science Labs, THALES) and music (François Pachet, Director, Spotify Creator Technology Research Lab).
The day concluded with a panel dedicated to AI in law, which included discussions of the application of AI to legal data (Georges-André Silber, Lecturer, MINES ParisTech; Co-Founder, Luxia), AI transforming law (Mathieu Coulaud, Head of Legal, Microsoft France) and the modeling of the judicial decision making process (Jacques Lévy-Véhel, Research Director, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), Founder, Case Law Analytics) followed by a debate between Partner Emmanuel Gaillard and magistrate and writer Antoine Garapon on the distinction between legal causality and algorithmic correlation.
UNCITRAL closed the event with a presentation by UNCITRAL’s Secretary Anna Joubin-Bret on their future work on disputes in the world of high-tech.
Our warm thanks to the above exceptional speakers for sharing their knowledge and expertise and for making the conference such a success, as well as the 150+ participants.
Detailed biographies of the speakers are available here.
The role of moderator for each of the conference panels is being fulfilled by Yas Banifatemi.
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Yas Banifatemi, Shearman & Sterling LLP, Partner and co-head of International Arbitration
Sylvain Duranton, Boston Consulting Group Gamma, Global Leader
PANEL I (9:05 – 9:30) – DEMYSTIFYING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Cédric Villani, Mathematician (2010 Fields Medalist); Member of the French Academy of Sciences; First Vice-President of the Parliamentary Office for Scientific and Technological Assessment (OPECST); Member of the French Parliament (Essonne)
Artificial Intelligence: A Scientific, Societal and Political Revolution
PANEL II (9:30 – 12:30) – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CONTEXTUALISED
DEBATE I: NATIONAL POLICIES AND INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGES
Karine Perset, OECD, Administrator, Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence Policy, Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation
The Role of International Cooperation in the Field of Artificial Intelligence
Moez Chakchouk, UNESCO, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information
What Ethical Considerations for a Level Playing Artificial Intelligence?
DEBATE II: THE HUMAN FACTOR
Sylvain Duranton, Boston Consulting Group Gamma, Global Leader
Artificial Intelligence and Business
Magnus Magnusson, UNESCO, Director, Partnerships and Outreach, Social and Human Sciences Sector
Level Playing Artificial Intelligence and Economic Development
PANEL III (14:00 – 15:30) – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE APPLIED
Anni Coden, Boston Consulting Group, Partner and Associate Director
Artificial Intelligence in the Diagnosis of Rare Diseases
Fengchun Miao, UNESCO, Chief, Unit for ICT in Education
Artificial Intelligence and Education
Christophe Meyer, THALES, Senior Expert, Director of Artificial Intelligence & Data Science Labs
Artificial Intelligence for Critical Systems
François Pachet, Spotify, Director, Spotify Creator Technology Research Lab
Artificial Intelligence in the Music Industry
PANEL IV (15:30 – 18:00) – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN LAW: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE v. HUMAN JUDGMENT
Georges-André Silber, MINES ParisTech, Lecturer; Co-Founder, Luxia
Artificial Intelligence Applied to Legal Data: How Does It Work?
Mathieu Coulaud, Microsoft France, Head of Legal
How Is Artificial Intelligence Transforming Law?
Jacques Lévy Véhel, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), Research Director; Case Law Analytics, Founder
Artificial Intelligence and the Modelling of the Judicial Decision-making Process
DEBATE III: LEGAL CAUSALITY v. ALGORITHMIC CORRELATION
Emmanuel Gaillard, Shearman & Sterling, Partner; Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and Yale Law School
Antoine Garapon, Magistrate and Writer
Anna Joubin-Bret, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Secretary
Arbitration in International High-tech and Related Disputes
CONCLUSION
Yas Banifatemi, Partner, Co-Head of International Arbitration, Shearman & Sterling
Sylvain Duranton, BCG GAMMA Global Leader
