Swiss companies have taken on a pioneering role in new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), according to Catrin Hinkel, CEO of Microsoft Switzerland. “Switzerland holds a crucial position for the US company,” said Hinkel in an interview talking about the impact of the new European AI regulation.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Español
es
Las empresas suizas son pioneras en inteligencia artificial
Microsoft has been providing its AI assistant Copilot to Swiss customers, since November, with over 200 companies and start-ups using Microsoft AI solutions, said Hinkel in an interview with Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag published on Sunday.
More
More
‘Artificial intelligence is the defining technology of our time’
This content was published on
A wide-ranging interview with Catrin Hinkel, CEO of Microsoft Switzerland, on artificial intelligence, IT shortages and data protection.
The technology is employed for various purposes, such as generating meeting minutes. However, Hinkel could not specify when Copilot would be accessible for private customers.
It is still premature to estimate the impact of the European Union’s (EU) new AI regulation on Microsoft’s offering. “In principle, we welcome the EU’s regulation of AI,” said Hinkel.
Human responsibility
Negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states reached an agreement on a corresponding law in early December. According to the EU Parliament, this marks the world’s first AI law.
More
More
Has Switzerland missed the train on AI regulation?
This content was published on
The European Union has drafted the world’s first law regulating artificial intelligence. Where does that leave non-member Switzerland?
While the European Parliament and member states still need to give their approval, which is seen as a formality, the project entails categorising AI systems into different risk groups. The idea is that the higher the potential risks of an application, the more stringent the requirements should be. There’s hope that these regulations will serve as a global model.
According to the country manager at Microsoft, humans are the ultimate decision-makers and, therefore, bear the responsibility. This is why the technology is named Copilot. “The human is the pilot and, therefore, responsible for the aircraft,” explained Hinkel.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Culture
Documentary portrays Swiss teenagers forced to return to parents’ homeland
Should raw milk sales be banned or should consumers decide?
Swiss food regulations do not allow raw milk to be sold for direct consumption. However, a loophole allows 400 raw milk vending machines to do just that.
Swiss university graduates are popular hires worldwide
This content was published on
Graduates of Swiss universities are popular with international employers, according to the Global Employability University Rankings.
French cross-border workers in Switzerland fear ‘discriminatory’ unemployment reform
This content was published on
In the French region around Geneva, cross-border workers are protesting proposals to cut unemployment benefits for those working in Switzerland.
Swan infected with bird flu in central Switzerland
This content was published on
Switzerland has reported its first bird flu case of the season. A swan found dead in central Switzerland tested positive for the H5N1 virus.
Swiss researchers identify gene variants linked to cancer progression
This content was published on
ETH Zurich researchers explored genetic mutations’ effects on cell function and their role in cancer development and treatment using CRISPR/Cas techniques.
This content was published on
Artificial intelligence researchers are calling for a pause on “giant AI experiments”, but it won’t happen, argues AI researcher Jürgen Schmidhuber.
This content was published on
We desperately need more attention, staff and funding to set up artificial intelligence (AI) governance systems, says Lê Nguyên Hoang.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.