The European Commission (EC) released a package of proposals laying out the European strategy to unleash the digital potential of Europe.
The 19th of February 2020 was a thrilling day for Europe’s digital future. The European Commission (EC) released a package of proposals laying out the European approach to artificial intelligence (AI), data and platform regulations, which focuses strongly on a human-centric approach and building a European data space. The main documents are the following: The White Paper on AI accompanied by the Report on safety and liability implications of AI and the European Data Strategy supplemented by the Expert Group on Business-to-government (B2G) Data Sharing. They were presented together with an overarching five-year digital policy roadmap under the title of Shaping Europe’s Digital Future. Additionally, the EC published a factsheet entitled “The Green Transition” which reflects on how digital technologies can help the EU’s Green Deal set goal to become climate neutral by 2050.
Over the next five years, the Commission’s focus will be on three key objectives: technology that works for people, a fair and competitive economy and an open, democratic and sustainable society. The drivers behind the new European Digital Strategy are not only to compete with the current tech leaders, the United States and China, but also to make sure Europe becomes the leader in human-centric and ethical artificial intelligence in the new digital era. To be able to compete with the best, the European Commission has the ambition to gather over €20 billion from the private and public sector per year for the next decade. In order to finance the proposals and to stimulate the private investments, funds will be channelled through the Digital Europe Programme, Horizon Europe and the Connecting Europe Facility 2.
The White Paper on Artificial Intelligence, which is not legally binding, derives nonetheless from von der Leyen’s initial promise to introduce legislation within her first 100 days in office. The White Paper proposes a framework for future legislation bolstering on an ecosystem of trust and excellence. The main propositions combine investment and regulatory approaches in order to encourage broad and deep uptake of AI technologies while ensuring trustworthiness and security of the applications. Important questions going forward concern how to achieve this balance, how to distinguish between high-risk and low-risk fields of application requiring differing levels of regulation, and how to build trust through transparency and oversight measures. Ultimately, the EU hopes to create a space where citizens support and trust engagement with AI applications.
The European data strategy aims to create a single European data space, a single market for data, and unlock unused data, allowing it to flow freely within the European Union and across sectors for the benefit of businesses, researchers and public administrations. The aim of pursuing this strategy is to ensure Europe’s autonomy and competitiveness to unlock the potential of AI and become a world leader in tech. The White Paper on AI and the European data strategy are framed in a complementary way and work hand-in-hand.
Uncertainty remains about when concrete legislation on artificial intelligence will be proposed; it will depend on the feedback the Commission receives in the following months. What we do know is that, later this year, the Commission plans to propose a Digital Services Act, a review of the Electronic Identification and Trust Services (eIDAS) regulation, the development of a Joint Cyber Unit, a European Democracy Action Plan and a revised Coordinated Action Plan by the end of 2020. To follow in the direction of the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI, a key element of future regulations is to address issues affecting safety and fundamental rights. An updated version of the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI published by the High-Level Expert group last year will be published in June 2020.
The White Paper on Artificial Intelligence and the data strategy are both currently open for public consultation. The Commission is collecting feedback from governments, researchers and the industry until 19 May 2020. Entities from outside the EU are also welcome to provide comments. The Commission’s approach to launch a broad consultation on the concrete proposals is meant to boost investment, enhance support by the different actors and possible proposals for the future legal framework.
In a more global perspective, it is noteworthy to mention that the OECD AI Policy Observatory will be launched on 27 February. This online platform aims at facilitating partnerships between interested partners and stakeholders to create an international dialogue and collaboration. The purpose is to form a centre for collecting and sharing evidence on AI, which could ultimately lead to evidence-based policy analysis.