The State of the EU speech and question time was held by the European Commission’s President on September 13th, marking an important moment to address crucial challenges for the European Union and to indicate the direction going forward. In making business practices easier and more accessible, President Von Der Leyen in her speech said that digital technology is the answer. She started by calling awareness to the very real threats of artificial intelligence. While there is much good that comes from AI, we should not underestimate the power of this technology for many uses, including civilian and military. Some scepticism is important when dealing with AI as it is moving faster than the developers of the technology anticipated. With that said, Von Der Leyen hopes to utilize AI to create a more connected, more sustainable European Union. She presented a new global framework for AI built on three pillars: guardrails, governance, and guiding innovation responsibly.
The first pillar, guardrails, is vital as it prioritizes the development of AI in a “human-centric, transparent, and responsible way.” This first pillar addresses safety with the use of AI and making sure that the power of this technology is used right. The President proposes to go forward with the legislation called the AI Act, as the “first comprehensive pro-innovation AI law.”
The second pillar, governance, lays a foundation for a single governance in Europe. This pillar promotes partnership for understanding AI and the impact on societies. Von Der Leyen sites the impact of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and suggests that there should be a similar panel that informs policy makers on the benefits and risks of AI.
Finally, the third pillar deals with guiding innovation in a responsible way. Europe is a leader in supercomputing, with 3/5 of the most powerful super computers in the world. This third pillar will open the high-performance computers to AI startups, giving them the opportunity to train their models in a responsible way. She wants to open communication between “those that develop AI and those that deploy AI.”
It is important that Europe leads in exploring and implementing AI into business practices to stay ahead of global competition and innovation. By implementing her three pillars, the EU will be able to work towards “minimum global standards for safe and ethical use of AI.”
Source: INSME Secretariat
