Why the EU is lagging behind in the global AI race

EU regulatory overreach has gone from a Brexiteer conspiracy theory and a source of ridicule to something that EU leaders themselves recognize and are trying to address. But when it comes to AI, they’re already behind, says James Price

If you’ve bought a plastic drinks bottle in the last few months, you may have noticed a maddening change – the cap can no longer be detached from the rest of the bottle. You might find this quite annoying; you might even pretend to like the increase in spills and mess to help save the environment. Regardless, it represents one of the major regulatory-driven innovations coming out of the European Union.

At the same time, the United States promoted companies that created big language models like ChatGPT, self-driving cars, drones, commercial spacewalks, and many, many other things I’m not smart enough to understand.

This shocking gap in competitiveness in Europe, like many ideas, has disappeared in a frenzy Brexiteer conspiracy theory and source of ridicule for something that EU leaders themselves recognize and are trying to address.

This came to a head with the recent publication of former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s long-awaited report on the EU’s competitiveness gap. While they correctly diagnose some of the problems, the remedies they offer are – inevitably – more European integration, government spending and decarbonisation. That means more expensive energy, less competition or experimentation between member states and higher taxes. Good luck with that!

But Mr. Draghi’s first complaint in an article he wrote about the report focuses on something that even the layman knows is an area of ​​potentially enormous growth. artificial intelligence (AI). This new wellspring of technologies could literally prove to be a deus ex machina for the world’s economic and governmental ills, and there is no reason why Europe cannot be a leader in it.

Mr Draghi’s report literally proposes “making it easier for researchers to commercialize ideas”. But the EU has blocked some of the biggest tech companies investing in AI from building their products on data from users inside the bloc. This means less innovation and products that are not as useful inside the EU as they are outside.

At the same time, Thierry Breton, an EU commissioner, decided that the main technological challenge in Europe was Elon Musk’s Twitter that removes blue ticks from celebrities. The threat of an EU-wide Twitter ban has at least seen Mr Breton resign from his post after being told he would lose it.

Barmy EU priorities

These unsavory EU priorities demonstrate another Brexiteer talking point that was called “crazy” at the time: the idea that over time Britain could benefit from diverging from the EU’s statist rules.

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) recently decided NOT to intervene to prevent AI models from training user data in the UK. Thanks in part to strengthened guidance on the regulator’s growth-promoting obligations, introduced by the Conservative government in May, companies such as Meta will be able to launch and develop exciting new AI products that will benefit UK users but will be absent across the Channel.

This was such a departure from the EU that Global Affairs Vice President and former EU MEP (oh, and former Deputy Prime Minister) Sir Nick Clegg recognized the deep damage the EU is doing here.

Sir Nick is a serious man who has spent enough time among the geniuses of Silicon Valley to know which way the world is turning. He will also understand that the UK can be a world leader in these new technologies, thanks to its university talent, access to capital markets and the good fortune of having Google Deepmind here.

The potential benefits are enormous, and other countries are already stealing a march. When the UAE appointed a minister for AI in 2017, others laughed it off as a gimmick. They are not laughing now, as the Gulf state is pioneering all kinds of new technologies.

There are several large European AI companies, from defense firms such as Helsing in Germany to Mistral AI in France, that are world leaders but risk being left behind by the American frontrunners due to backward EU regulation. If you don’t trust politicians not to screw up a bottle of fizzy pop, don’t trust them not to strangle world-changing, life-saving AI technology.

By CityAM

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