The European Commission’s White Paper sets out proposals to promote the development of Artificial Intelligence to shape Europe’s digital future
The European Commission has released a new White Paper on Artificial Intelligence and the European data strategy as part of its plans to develop Europe’s digital future.
Over the next five years, the Commission will focus on three key objectives: Technology that works for people; A fair and competitive economy; and An open, democratic and sustainable society. This will be achieved through collaboration with the other Member States and the research community.
President Ursula von der Leyen, said:
“Artificial Intelligence [can be used] for better diagnoses and earlier diagnoses. And better and earlier diagnoses are crucial when you treat for example cancer.
“But Artificial Intelligence is also key for us when we want to reach our goal to be climate neutral in 2050. Just think of precision farming: Precision farming, AI-driven, enables us to reduce pesticides, enables us to reduce fertilisers. Or if you think of smart heating: Smart heating, AI-driven again, is saving millions and millions of tonnes of oil for example and therefore reducing the CO2 footprint.
“AI will not only improve our daily lives. Europe has a pole position and we should also be aware of that [as] we produce 25% of all industrial robots.
Executive Vice-President for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, Margrethe Vestager, said:
“We want every citizen, every employee, every business to stand a fair chance to reap the benefits of digitalisation. Whether that means driving more safely or polluting less thanks to connected cars; or even saving lives with AI-driven medical imagery that allows doctors to detect diseases earlier than ever before.”
Funding
The European Commission proposed to invest €15 billion into the Horizon Europe ‘Digital, Industry and Space’ cluster – AI being a key area to be supported. As part of the Digital Europe Programme, the Commission also put forward an investment of almost €2.5 billion to be used in deploying data platforms and AI applications.
European Green Deal
Technology is critical for the EU’s strategy to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050 – The European Green Deal. Digital technologies have the ability to increase energy efficiency by tracking when and where electricity is needed and smart heating could help us save the equivalent of 6 million tonnes of oil. Thanks to AI and data, farmers will also be able to use fewer pesticides and fertilisers.
All AI applications are welcome in the European market as long as they comply with EU rules.
Von der Leyen, said: “Artificial Intelligence is a huge opportunity in Europe, for Europe. We do have a lot, but we have to unleash this potential that is out there. We want this innovation in Europe. We want to encourage our businesses, our researchers, the innovators, the entrepreneurs, to develop Artificial Intelligence. And we want to encourage our citizens to feel confident to use it.”
