Image: (APA/BMF)
On Monday, the 34-year-old took stock of his first year in government. He rules out running for the Innsbruck mayoral elections. When it comes to regulating artificial intelligence (AI), he demands speed from the EU.
Legal regulation for AI
There is also an urgent need for legal regulation for AI at European level this year. The so-called EU AI Act is currently being negotiated. “I don’t understand why it’s taking so long,” Tursky said. However, he sees it as a positive signal that the responsible EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager committed to a political agreement on this at the end of April this year. Last Thursday, the responsible committees of the European Parliament passed a draft for the AI regulation.
Tursky wants to start with an AI authority in Austria in the coming year. It is intended to classify various algorithms. “What is a high-risk algorithm? What is a low-risk algorithm? How dangerous is this AI?” Tursky said. The authority should then also take over the corresponding approval of high-risk AIs. The State Secretary sees the development of possible AI seals of approval as a further area of responsibility of an AI authority. “People want to know when they are confronted with artificial intelligence and whether it meets certain basic criteria.”
“Digitization decides on housing status”
Tursky criticized the broadband expansion strategy in earlier years. Sees himself “as a lobbyist for digitization”. Because this will “decide on our prosperity,” he said. He is therefore planning a relaunch of the digital office in Austria by the beginning of next year at the latest. “Two factors will be decisive as to whether e-government gets through to people’s minds: that’s usability and that’s transparency,” said Tursky about his insights from the first year in the State Secretariat.
In the Digital Office you can already check what your own electronic proof of identity (ID-Austria) was used for. However, there is room for improvement when it comes to the user-friendliness of the Digital Office. In the future, all functions should be accessible on one portal. “I get my documents with just a few clicks and not with three jumps and the like,” said Tursky. The e-ID wallet should become the daily companion of citizens, be it at the post office, at the club entrance or at the driver’s license check.
According to the State Secretariat, Austria currently has over 200 digital official channels. In the future there will be even more, also through further digital IDs, which are planned nationwide. “We want to bring in the permit and the proof of identity and age before the end of this year. The student ID card and the e-card will follow next.”
1.4 billion euros for broadband expansion
According to him, by 2030, as part of the second broadband billion, the federal government will invest 1.4 billion euros in the expansion of broadband Internet and six billion euros from the private sector. In the beginning of the expansion, more than 20 years ago, there was no clear strategy, also because the federal government did not take action. This is how “a patchwork carpet” was created. “If a different strategy had been chosen at the time, we would have saved money and it would be easier for us today,” said the politician. “But it’s always easier to unroll the book from the back.” Although he also emphasized: “It has not always helped to centralize things. Digitization makes it possible to think about doing certain areas at federal level and doing others at state or municipal level.”
Tursky does not want to accept the fundamental criticism that digital agendas in Austria have so far been neglected. “The problem for us was always to network the various authorities with each other. And that also results in the frustration of the population that the authorities do not talk to each other – partly for data protection reasons, of course.”
Basic digital skills for everyone
By 2025, Tursky wants 80 percent of all Austrians to have basic digital skills. The way there is to be achieved via standardized competence frameworks. “It’s a nine-level model where you classify your digital skills. You can imagine it like language certificates with different levels. It’s being implemented in a similar way at the European and national level,” says Tursky. If he has his way, institutions such as adult education centers or Wifi should then issue certificates. “The aim is that in the future this digital competency model will be used in CVs or job descriptions.”
When discussing the Chinese app TikTok on official cell phones, Tursky refers to the Ministry of the Interior. “If TikTok were also ideologically regulated by the Chinese AI authority in the future and it came to the conclusion that the algorithm is also shaped by communist ideology, I would be in favor of a general ban at European level.” More and more governments around the world are currently banning TikTok from their employees’ cell phones. The ministry is currently examining the danger emanating from the video app in Austria, too, it said on request. In any case, Tursky revealed that he had not installed the app on either his private or work cell phone.
No candidacy in Innsbruck
In any case, he prefers the State Secretariat to a candidacy in the Innsbruck mayoral elections in spring 2024. “I still have enough joy and energy for the next 1.5 years, so I’m not thinking about anything else,” said Turksy, who has not yet commented on the rumors of a possible election. In Tursky’s native Tyrol, there has recently been speculation about a possible candidacy for the 34-year-old former spokesman and office manager of ex-governor Günther Platter (ÖVP).
However, Tursky wants to hold back with a comment on a possible black-blue government coalition in Salzburg, which is considered part of the ÖVP West Axis. It was always a good idea to “let federal politics be federal politics and state politics state politics”.
Source: Nachrichten
