On Wednesday 8 October, the European Commission is due to present its ‘Apply AI Strategy’, an initiative designed to promote AI tools manufactured in Europe to ensure its security and resilience and strengthen its industrial competitiveness, while warning against the risk of the technology being “instrumentalised” by geopolitical rivals.
The document, which Agence Europe has been able to obtain, is divided into three sections: the challenges facing the implementation of AI by SMEs, the critical sectors for the widespread deployment of AI, and the establishment of a single governance mechanism.
As announced, this strategy underlines the importance of accelerating the adoption of AI in numerous sectors, such as healthcare, defence, manufacturing, energy and the public sector.
The Commission plans to “strengthen EU AI sovereignty” by accelerating the use and development of European AI tools, such as generative AI, which could be widely adopted by public administrations and critical sectors.
At the heart of this desire is the need for the EU to be less dependent on third parties in the AI race, particularly when AI is used by organisations or companies considered to be ‘sensitive’.
In the field of health, the Commission would like to set up advanced screening centres based on AI (see EUROPE 13723/30), backed by a future “European network of expertise on the deployment of AI in the field”.
In the manufacturing and defence industries, the document recommends favouring tools of European origin, whether in the field of drones or communications, through a roadmap on the “transformation of European defence”.
The document, which may be subject to change between now and its presentation on Wednesday, warns that the “external dependencies of the AI framework” - the infrastructure and software needed to create, train and manage AI applications - “can be weaponised” by “state and non-state actors”.
Through this strategy, the Commission is reaffirming its desire to drastically reduce Europe’s dependence in the sector, particularly in relation to China and the United States, currently leaders in the global AI market.
The document describes AI as a “strategic asset” that must be closely integrated into the EU’s institutional, industrial and security systems in order to boost European productivity and strategic independence.
In the text, AI is also described as a productivity driver, the use of which should be promoted within SMEs and European businesses. Models that are “[more] specialised, smaller” than the general AI models, need to be “developed” and supported for specific sectors.
See the Strategy: https://aeur.eu/f/IT1 (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)