On December 17, 2023, the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology (the Ministry) announced that it, along with the Office of Legal Counsel and Legislative Affairs (Economic Law Department) at the Ministry of Justice published, on the same date, Israel's Policy on Artificial Intelligence Regulations and Ethics 2023 (the AI Policy). In particular, the AI Policy recommends, among other things, concrete steps to foster responsible artificial intelligence (AI) innovation in the private sector. 

What is the scope of the AI Policy?

In particular, the AI Policy states, among other things, that it provides guidelines and instructions for sectoral regulators for the regulation of private sector AI. The AI Policy further clarifies that the Government's policy on public sector applications of AI is being developed separately.

What are the key features of the AI Policy?

The AI Policy, among other things:

• identifies seven main challenges arising from the use of AI in the private sector, namely, discrimination, human oversight, explainability, disclosure of AI interactions, safety, accountability, and privacy; and
• notes that it supports 'responsible innovation,' i.e., promotes innovation while fostering accountability and ethically-aligned design and uses of AI and applies it to the entire lifecycle of AI applications, with a special focus on use and deployment.

What are the key AI Policy recommendations?

The AI Policy recommends, among other things:

• establishing a government policy framework to empower sector-specific regulators, international interoperability, adopting a risk-based approach, encouraging incremental development, using 'soft' regulation, and promoting multistakeholder cooperation;
• adopting a common set of ethical AI principles, based on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) AI Principles, with some adjustments, focusing on human-centric innovation, equality, transparency, reliability, accountability, and promoting sustainable development;
• establishing an AI policy coordination center, an expert-based inter-agency body to advise sectoral regulators, promote coordination, update government AI policy, advise on AI regulation, and represent Israel in international forums;
• mapping AI uses and challenges in regulated sectors;
• establishing forums for regulators and public participation in AI Policy;
• ensuring active involvement in developing regulations and standards in international forums; and
• developing tools for responsible AI.

Finally, the Ministry noted that the full AI Policy was originally published in Hebrew and the English summary of the AI Policy mainly focuses on the recommendations chapter of the AI Policy. According to the Ministry, the English version of the AI Policy is awaited. 

You can read the press release here and the English summary of AI Policy here.