09/04/2020 (Agence Europe) – Even if artificial intelligence (AI) can be considered a “powerful tool that can help generate information to enable more precise and effective strategies for the prevention of, detection of and response to outbreaks”, it however “cannot be considered a silver bullet for pandemics”, said Italian Deborah Bergamini, rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the need for democratic governance of AI. “Any excessive or unethical use may result in grave violations of the right to privacy and non-discrimination”, she added, before advocating that “the use of these tools be limited both in terms of purpose and time”. “It is crucial [...] that national authorities scale back any newly-acquired monitoring capabilities after the end of this pandemic”, she said. (VL)