25 European countries have made common commitments on Artificial Intelligence (AI). During the Digital Day event on 10 April they signed a common declaration that puts data access at the centre of their priorities.
During a press conference, the Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel, stated, “Today we received confirmation that the three areas upon which we are currently concentrating, correspond to the expectations of the member states and citizens: technological capacity, ethical and legal questions, as well as the impact of artificial intelligence on the labour market and skills".
The main messages in the declaration
The declaration acknowledges the importance of ensuring Europe's competitiveness in research and the implementation of AI, as well as the way in which it tackles social, economic, ethical and legal issues. It has been signed by 24 member states (apart from Cyprus, Croatia, Greece and Romania) in addition to Norway.
According to a Commission official, the fact that Cyprus, Greece and Romania have not signed up is more to do with a question of procedure rather than any real opposition.
Specific commitments mean that the signatories would like to help towards the implementation of an extensive European digital innovation centre network. They are also proposing to help in efforts to make public sector data more available, help private businesses follow this example and improve the way in which publicly funded scientific data is reused.
Data access was previously identified by the French Secretary Of State for Digital Affairs, Mounir Mahjoubi, as one of the European Union’s priorities and he stated, “There is no artificial intelligence without data”. He called for regulation on publicly funded data, the voluntary exchange of data and support for the distribution of data from the private sector when the general interest is involved.
The Maltese Minister for Education, Evarist Bartolo, said that they should not ignore those “losing out" from artificial intelligence and the fact that they need to respect European values when competing with China and the US.
During a press conference, Commissioner Gabriel was asked about possible disagreements that could emerge during the drafting of the declaration and said, “Today, convergences have prevailed. If there are differences, it is to Europe's advantage. All differences and diversity make us strong".
Future Commission communication
It is likely that the European Commission will present its strategy on artificial intelligence on Wednesday 25 April.
On Tuesday, Ms Gabriel confirmed that this communication would be based on three areas of work, namely: (1) stimulating the EU's technological and industrial capacity in AI; (2) tackling ethical and legal questions (whilst tackling issues of security, liability, transparency and data access); and (3) responding to socio-economic challenges on the labour markets and modernising the education and training systems in Europe (see EUROPE 11987).
The Commissioner also announced the launch of a European Alliance for Artificial Intelligence to complete the strategy. She explained that this alliance will, “act as both a platform and forum for collecting information, exchanging information, developing common priorities and proposing recommendations for future initiatives”. According to the Commissioner, the recommendations could possibly be formulated at the beginning of 2019 with regard to the ethical use of AI and will take into account fundamental rights.
To consult the declaration please see the following link: https://bit.ly/2qiuVeY (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)