The total of 58 Finnish staff members of equality bodies and regulators will join a new training course on “Artificial Intelligence and Anti-Discrimination” consisting of an online course run over two months and a series of webinars and seminars. This interactive training will equip key public officials with tools and knowledge to identify, prevent, and address algorithmic discrimination. The course is developed as part of the project “Upholding equality and non-discrimination by Equality bodies regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in public administrations”, implemented by the Council of Europe and the European Commission. The project is co-funded by the European Union under the Technical Support Instrument. The project is implemented in cooperation with three European equality bodies: the Interfederal Center for Equal Opportunities (Unia, Belgium), the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman (Finland), and the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (Portugal).
Anchored in European human rights standards, the course explores how bias, and discrimination arise in AI systems providing examples from real cases across Europe. Participants will learn about the European legal and policy framework on AI, including the recently adopted EU AI Act and the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, and the role of equality bodies and regulators in safeguarding fundamental rights in the use of AI.
Tiina Valonen from the Finnish Non-Discrimination Ombuds office highlights the importance of this training course: “Public officials have the duty to prevent discrimination and promote equality in the deployment and use of AI. With the course, equality bodies and regulators will reinforce their awareness on the risks and opportunities of AI in upholding equality and non-discrimination”.
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