Can Switzerland Steer A Safe Course To AI Innovation?

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Switzerland's long-awaited strategy for artificial intelligence (AI) focuses on promoting business, while leaving regulations to shield people from potential pitfalls of the technology for a later date.

This content was published on February 14, 2025 - 16:06 7 minutes

When not covering fintech, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, banks and trade, swissinfo's business correspondent can be found playing cricket on various grounds in Switzerland - including the frozen lake of St Moritz.

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The government this week committed to a broad set of principles drawn up by the Council of Europe, but it is not yet opting for stricter regulations like those the European Union put into place last year.

The strategy typifies Switzerland's light-touch regulatory approach in many business sectors, such as commodities trading. It also reflects a shift in global sentiment away from measures meant to safeguard society from the threats posed by AI.

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Switzerland's announcement has been rapturously greeted by business associations but has received a more cautious assessment from civil society groups, who are concerned about privacy, sustainability and rampant corporate power.

The safety-first trend of recent years, exemplified by the 2024 European Union AI Act, has been replaced by an international scramble for AI dominance, stoked chiefly by the United States, which recently tore up the AI safeguards of the previous administration.

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Switzerland's release of an official AI strategy is late relative to many other advanced economies. Now the Alpine state appears to be attempting to find a balance between the conflicting views of the EU and US.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the government says it will“regulate AI in such a way that its potential can be used to strengthen Switzerland as a location for business and innovation. At the same time, the risks to society should be kept as low as possible”.

Legal foundation

The Council of Europe AI Convention, which commits nations to defending democracy, the rule of law and human rights against AI abuses, is aimed more at public sector projects and gives signatories wide scope for legal implementation. The Swiss parliament will be presented with proposed law changes by the end of 2026. It might take several more months to amend laws, such as data protection legislation.

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This legal foundation will be topped up by“non-legally binding measures” for private companies in Switzerland.“Measures may include self-disclosure agreements or industry solutions,” the Swiss government said.

This approach might not be tough enough to appease Switzerland's largest trading partner, the EU, according to MLL Legal lawyer Gabriel Meier.

Switzerland would be best advised to“adopt an overarching framework that is closely aligned with the EU AI Act[1] ”, Meier told SWI swissinfo.“Swiss companies operating in the EU market will have to comply with the EU AI Act anyway.”

Different levels of risks

Artificial intelligence started by training computers to analyse vast troves of data to reach solutions faster than humans. Increasingly, AI can also draw out-of-the-box conclusions that had not previously occurred to people. The ability of computers to“think” independently both fascinates and alarms society.

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It has enormous implications for industry, medical treatments, automated transport, law enforcement and a host of other areas. Such concerns have spawned a host of international treaties to maintain human control over AI, such as the Bletchley Declaration (2023) and the Global Partnership on AI (2020).

The EU AI Act identifies different levels of risks that could pose a threat across a wide spectrum of societal activities, such as healthcare, education, the workplace or social media.
Some activities, such as the social scoring of citizens, are outright banned. Others are subject to restrictions, such as the use of AI to determine whom to hire or fire in the workplace.

Emphasis on self-regulation

The US, by contrast, has adopted a hands-off approach since Donald Trump was elected president.“The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety. It will be won by building,” US vice-president JD Vance told the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris.“We need international regulatory regimes that foster the creation of AI technology rather than strangle it.”

This was music to the ears of some companies in the growing Swiss AI industry, who feared being stifled by EU-style regulations.“The EU is stuck in a defensive mindset,” Swiss-American computer scientist Urs Hölzle, who is a Google Fellow, told the Inside AI podcast hosted by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL).“[It thinks] 99% about the problems and risks and zero about the opportunities. With that mindset you are guaranteed not to realise the opportunities.”

“Switzerland's approach strikes the right balance between regulation and innovation,” Ottavia Masserini, spokesperson for digitalswitzerland, told SWI swissinfo.“The emphasis on self-regulation and minimal bureaucracy ensures that companies can continue to develop AI technologies without unnecessary constraints.”

'Step in the right direction'

The civil society group AlgorithmWatch said the strategy“is a step in the right direction but is timid and not very far-sighted”. It called on the government to“fulfil its responsibility to tackle the regulations surrounding AI without blinkers”.

The NGO wants Switzerland to act faster and more decisively to address sustainability issues, protect people's rights and address the growing dominance of a few large companies in the AI sector, which has“reached alarming proportions”.

The Swiss Business Federation (economiesuisse) points to a recent study by the Implement consulting group that forecasts AI boosting the Swiss economy by 11% in the near future.

“A principle-based framework provides legal clarity and signals to international partners that Switzerland is serious about data protection and ethical AI, which can attract investors,” economiesuisse head of competition and regulation, Erich Herzog, told SWI swissinfo.

The Swiss government has positioned itself to paint broad brush strokes on AI policy for now and to fill in the details later.

Ratifying the Council of Europe AI Convention will“prevent Switzerland from being sidelined or disadvantaged in terms of trustworthiness”, said Gabriel Meier.“But the important question is how the AI Convention is ratified into national laws.”

Meier believes this should be“closely aligned with the EU AI Act, by implementing a cross-sectoral regulation, instead of amending fragmented (minimum) sector-specific laws.”

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