The European Commission has released both The White Paper on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the European data strategy on the same day (February 19, 2020).
The White Paper presents the EU vision for “the human-centric development of AI” with a double objective: promoting the uptake of AI and addressing its associated risks. The proposed strategy is both regulatory and investment-oriented. Identified policy options aim to guarantee to Europe a global leading role in innovations in a “data-agile economy”.
The scope of the future EU regulatory framework will be to cover both data and algorithms, considered the main elements that compose AI. For that reason, complexity and opacity, robustness and accuracy are specific issues future regulation will address.
The White Paper anticipates a flexible legal definition of AI to accommodate technical progress and the adoption of a risk-based approach. The Commission is calling for a public-private partnership in AI, data, and robotics. Further issues covered by the paper are center (s) of research and innovation for AI in Europe and the need to identify appropriate skills/competencies.
Due to the maturity of technologies, priority is recognized to healthcare for the definition of a specific plan to facilitate development, experimentation, and adoption of AI-based solutions. A sector dialogue will guide the definition of an “Adopt AI programme” able to cover aspects as public procurement of AI systems.
The proposed route to an “ecosystem of excellence and trust” for AI in Europe is now open to public consultation until 19 May 2020. Later this year, the European Commission will officially propose legislation subject to approval by the European Parliament and national governments.
Additional relevant links:
Shaping Europe’s digital future – Questions and Answers
High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence
