On Wednesday 16 October, Member States’ ambassadors to the EU adopted a set of conclusions on Europe’s ambitions in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), which Agence Europe was able to obtain.
The document, which responds to the European Court of Auditors’ damning report on the EU’s shortcomings in AI governance (see EUROPE 13419/8), takes up its recommendations and largely endorses them.
According to the Member States, the “necessary ” increase in European investment in AI “could be done within the framework of the current Multiannual Financial Framework” (MFF) and could already be “prioritised” for the next MFF.
They also call for “strengthened synergy between existing [research and investment] funding programmes” and a review of “the investment targets defined in 2018”, which “can no longer serve as a benchmark”.
To this end, they call for “a revision of the Coordinated Plan on AI plan to ensure alignment with the latest technological developments and regulatory frameworks” and urge the Commission to re-examine “existing key performance indicators”, with a view to assessing the need for indicators specific to the development of AI.
While stressing the importance of recent initiatives (‘AI Act’, creation of the European Artificial Intelligence Office, Digital Europe Programme, etc.), the document ultimately calls on the Commission to put more effort “into the effective exploitation and commercialisation of project results, rather than increasing the monitoring burden on beneficiaries”.
See the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/dxj (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)