Shura general secretariat organises AI workshop

The General Secretariat of the Shura Council, in co-operation with the General Secretariat of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), organised Wednesday a workshop for the Secretaries-General of the Shura, representatives and national councils in the GCC countries under the title ‘Transformations in the work of GCC legislative councils in light of artificial intelligence: opportunities and challenges.’Attended by the secretaries-general, members of the GCC legislative councils, the GCC General Secretariat, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the workshop came within the framework of the Gulf councils’ ongoing efforts to enhance the optimal use of modern technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI), in supporting legislative work. A group of experts and AI and cybersecurity specialists presented the workshop.In his opening speech, HE the Secretary-General of the Shura Council Nayef bin Mohammed al-Mahmoud stressed the significance of the workshop and its role in highlighting the transformations the world is witnessing thanks to artificial intelligence.He noted that the GCC countries, especially Qatar, have developed ambitious national strategies aimed at adopting AI in various sectors, including the legislative sector, which can benefit from these technologies to increase efficiency and improve performance.He pointed out the vital role of legislative councils in enacting laws and legislation that ensure the optimal and safe use of this technology, with a focus on protecting societies from potential risks such as data manipulation and privacy.The secretary-general added that the use of AI in legislative councils opens up broad prospects for enhancing and accelerating legislative processes, as well as improving the accuracy of procedures and reducing administrative burdens. He stressed the need to keep pace with this development with legislation that ensures the responsible use of AI and limits its negative aspects, which may include cybercrimes and data manipulation.At the beginning of the workshop, Director of National Cyber Governance and Assurance Affairs at Qatar National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA), engineer Dana Yousef al-Abdulla gave a brief presentation on AI and its challenges, discussing the expected impact of AI on the work of legislative councils.Professor of Digital Humanities at Hamad Bin Khalifa University Dr George Mikros presented a paper titled "The use of AI and information technology to enrich the performance of GCC legislative councils”, while Director of Cyber Security Strategies and Policies at NCSA engineer Abdulrahman Mohammed al-Shafi discussed in his paper the impact of AI on the protection of privacy and digital rights.Shura Council member Dr Ahmed bin Hamad al-Mohannadi discussed in his paper the role of legislative councils in legislating laws related to AI, while Dr Khalid Mubarak al-Kuwari, a faculty member at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, presented his paper under the title "Laws required to regulate the use of AI in the work of legislative councils.”The workshop concluded with valuable interventions by the members and the secretaries-general of the GCC legislative councils.