European industry ministers share the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU's sense of urgency about artificial intelligence (AI).
During a round the table discussion organised on Thursday 27 September, they recognised the need to encourage innovation, stimulate investment, and adjust training. They also called for ethical questions to be solved and welcomed a future coordinated strategy.
Ethical questions and national strategies
The artificial intelligence strategy published in the spring lays the basis of work to be accomplished at European level (see EUROPE 12009).
During the debate, Internal Market Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska pointed out that this framework foresees: - publication of ethical guidelines by the end of 2018; - an assessment of criteria for responsibility and security for AI, Internet of objects and robotics by mid-2019.
Bieńkowska confirmed the European Commission’s plan to publish a coordinated plan in December on the development of AI in Europe in order to identify synergies between national initiatives and to stimulate investment (see EUROPE 12043).
During the round the table discussions, some national delegations spelt out their expectations of specific initiatives. For example, for the ethical guidelines, Italy insists that the setting of new ethical standards be given to parliament so that the people’s sovereignty can express itself, adding that autoregulation of world player cannot be the solution.
The idea of a coordinated AI development plan, confirmed by the president of the European Commission during his State of the Union speech, was relatively well-received by the ministers present. France boasted of the fact it has already launched a national strategy, while Germany and Italy say that their strategy will be published shortly, in December and the next few months respectively.
Digital industrial policy under discussion
The ministers’ round-table discussion provided an opportunity to address wider questions relating to digital industrial policy.
Several member states, like Austria and Portugal, said it was important to not confuse regulation with strangling entrepreneurship France reacted by raising the question of how ‘openness’ meshes with ‘regulation’: Should they be opposed or, when it managed to prescribe standards that become international, should the European Union also play a competitive advantage in this glob competitiveness?, commented the French deputy-permanent representative Fabrice Dubreuil. Lithuania stressed the risk of fragmentation within the EU depending on resources.
The United Kingdom pointed out that digitising the economy knows no bounds and that after Brexit in the spring of 2019, it hoped there would be a new regulatory cooperation model.
This exchange of views follows the informal July meeting of the Competitiveness Council, devoted to artificial intelligence’s potential for European industry (see EUROPE 12063).
This time, the debate was public and attended by two guests, Ulrich Schuh of the Group on Competitiveness and Growth, who stressed the importance of good cooperation, and Mic Hirschbrich, artificial intelligence entrepreneur, who called on the EU to establish a new data culture. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)