EU must “cut red tape” to enable AI innovation and investment – EVP Virkkunen
At the FT’s Enabling Europe’s AI Ambition conference, RAID heard from EC EVP Henna Virkkunen, and Google’s Annette Kroeber-Riel, about why and how Europe is adjusting its digital policy environment
The European Commission aims to simplify Europe’s regulatory environment to unlock the opportunities of AI, according to Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen.
“We want to make sure that our rules are encouraging innovations and investments, and that’s why we are very committed to simplifying the rules and making it easier for businesses to innovate and invest in the EU”, she said in conversation with Henry Foy, Brussels Bureau Chief at the Financial Times at their conference Enabling Europe’s AI Ambition.
This simplification drive refers to not only the AI Act, but the range of digital regulations that have recently been brought into force in the bloc including the Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act.
“We are looking at all our digital rules together and carrying out so-called ‘fitness check’,” she said. “We know that there are overlapping parts.”
“Now we have to look at how we can cut red tape and bureaucracy for our companies, especially when it comes to AI.”
The regulatory streamlining is accompanied other proactive measures to boost technological capabilities through developments in infrastructure, data access, cloud systems, industrial application and talent, she said.
“We have a very strong research and scientific community and we have thousands of startups who are working on AI, but they are often lacking access to computing capacity – and that’s why we are now supporting investments to our EuroHPC supercomputer.”
The European Commission has also underlined the need to remove barriers between member states.
“We have created too much regulatory burden and bureaucracy, not only in the European Union, but often also the Member States and regions and so on. So we have to clearly cut the red tape and simplify the processes.
“It’s better to have one common legislation, because often if we don’t then the Member States are coming with their own rules, and we are again fragmenting our single market. But what I try to do now for the businesses of course is to enable and support and create the environment that encourages innovations and investments.”
A fair, safe and democratic environment
This renewed focus on boosting competitiveness does not mean the risks of AI are being overlooked, however. “If we are using the technologies in healthcare, education, workplaces and transportation, we have to be aware of the risks and we have to be able to control the systems.”
European values remain at the heart of the regulatory environment. “We are very committed to our main principles, that we want to make sure that we have fair and safe democratic environment.”
The European Commission is currently taking action against Google and Apple under the Digital Markets Act, which seeks to create fair and contestable digital markets. On the question of how the EU is looking to implement the DMA in the context of big tech, Virkkunen said: “The main priority is that we are not creating or supporting monopolies.
“We want to make sure that we have competition and we have room for new innovators on the markets.”
Meanwhile, virtually all very large online platforms and search engines have been subjected to investigations under the Digital Services Act. On this piece of legislation, Virkkunen said “The DSA is to make sure we have a fair, safe and democratic environment.”
A Transatlantic Digital Trade War?
On the question of whether AI could get caught up in a trade war with the US, she said, “When we speak about transatlantic relations, we know that digital economy is very big, part of our cooperation there, and we have very tight partnership when it comes to our economy.
“And of course, nowadays the economy is very much about technologies and digitalisation, and we know that the biggest companies in the world, they are coming from USA. And they are a big part of our ecosystem in the European Union when it comes to digitalisation, and they have a different approach in USA when it comes to rules on AI. But I’m sure that we can very easily cooperate also in in the future.”
But alongside this confidence in continued cooperation, there are moves towards greater technological independence.
“When we look the next steps also in our action plan, it’s really now about the building the infrastructure, the computing capacity and also looking that we will we have the data available.
“We will look also at the cloud part; we have to be sure that we have also alternatives when it comes to cloud and edge computing capacity.”
The EC is planning Chips Act 2, an important part of which will be producing chips for AI in the EU.
Europeans also need to take risks and invest more in Europe, she suggested. “In the European Union it seems that we tend to take less risks than some other continents, and we can see it, for example, with our savings and investments union strategy.
“We have €10 trillion on our bank accounts in the European Union in savings accounts. Households want to have the money in the savings accounts in banks, or then they are investing to USA markets, but not to European markets. If households would also invest to European markets, it would help very much our investments and industries in the European Union. We are trying to change the culture.”
There are compelling reasons to invest in European markets in the current climate. “There is not one simple solution on how to make sure the EU is an attractive place for investments, but nowadays when tensions are high globally when it comes to security, we can see a huge interest towards the EU from all over the world because we are a very stable and reliable partner, and a good place for investments.”
With geopolitical tensions mounting, Europe is rapidly developing its defence capabilities – including the use of AI.
“A key part of the competitiveness of our defence industry is that we have the best equipment. When it comes to defence, frontier technologies like AI, quantum, they are playing very important role.
“Of course, this is a very difficult question when we start to speak about ethics in war and what kind of technologies we can use. But we know that many countries are investing a lot to that, and AI is used already in in war. But of course there will be also difficult ethical questions.”
“Time for Europe to step up and dare”
Speaking before EVP Virkkunen in a keynote address, Annette Kroeber Riel, Vice President, Government Affairs and Public Policy for Europe, Google said: “Economies all over the world are adopting AI rapidly. Europe can simply not afford to miss out on the AI opportunity. AI is key to achieving the bold ambitions that are outlined in the EU Competitiveness Compass.
“We can use AI to boost innovation and economic growth, to accelerate decarbonisation and to increase security. Success stories like Mistral AI and ASML show that Europe has the potential to grow digital champions.
“How can we create more success like these? It is through R&D partnerships, strategic investments in secure digital infrastructure and workforce upskilling. And crucially, we need regulatory frameworks that encourage innovation, collaboration and open competition.
“We have what we need to redefine Europe’s role on the global stage. We have the technologies and the talents, the willingness and the sheer necessity. We have what we need to find new sources of growth and prosperity. But we need to use the technologies and tools available to us. This is not the time to limit ourselves. This is the time for Europe to step up and dare.”
