EU leaders meet in Dublin to chart Europe’s AI future

Europe is eager to catch up with America and China in the artificial intelligence race. EU leaders say Europe has the technology, capital and talent to give it a shot. (CN) — European Union leaders met Friday in Dublin to hammer out strategies to boost Europe’s weak position in the race to develop artificial intelligence and to become less dependent on American and Chinese technologies.The talks came amid a global outage of Microsoft services that paralyzed public services across Europe, an incident that underscored Europe’s dependence on American tech services. Only about 20% of Europe’s digital services run on European tech infrastructure.In Ireland, the host country of Friday’s informal talks, the Microsoft outage caused widespread disruption for email and online services used by hospitals, government agencies and courts, according to news reports.Patients at the Mater Hospital in Dublin were told to contact hospital staff by telephone rather than email. Meanwhile, Irish courts using Microsoft Teams, an online workspace and video conference platform, were forced to cancel online hearings.Similar problems were reported across Europe, including in Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.At the Dublin summit, Arthur Mensch, the head of Paris-based Mistral, Europe’s leading AI company, called on EU leaders to invest much more in European tech. The EU has backed Mistral’s rise.“Europe has all the technology and talent needed to lead the race for artificial intelligence,” he said, as reported by news outlets. “What it needs now is speed, funding and close coordination between [EU] member states.”Each year, Europe spends about $285 billion on technologies and services provided by foreign firms, mostly American, and Mensch urged Europe to invest that money instead in Europe.Nobel Prize-winning AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton also briefed EU leaders on AI. Hinton has spoken out about the dangers posed by AI to work, human rights and security.French President Emmanuel Macron championed the push for a made-in-Europe approach to AI.“Our independence cannot be outsourced,” he said on social media at the summit’s conclusion. “It must be built here at home, in Europe.”European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she would present a 500-billion-euro ($551 billion) plan to make Europe less dependent on foreign technology.This was the EU’s first summit focused on AI.In June, the European Commission laid out legislative proposals to foster European-made chips, artificial intelligence and cloud services.Brussels wants to get more public services and European data handled by European-made tech products, streamline bureaucracy hindering the construction of data centers and AI gigafactories, and invest in more European semiconductor makers and tech startups.So far, the EU has struggled to get into the AI race and meet its ambitions to build AI gigafactories and boost advanced manufacturing of semiconductors.Europe has many tech companies, but few giants. Only four of the world’s largest tech companies are European. Meanwhile, Europe has fallen far behind when it comes to making semiconductor chips, network and digital infrastructure, AI, software and cloud platforms, and cybersecurity.In a briefing note on the summit, the EU said it was concerned highly powerful AI models “reaching unprecedented capabilities” are concentrated among a few global players “whose market power can undermine fair and efficient digital markets and limit Europe’s strategic autonomy.”The briefing note said the EU faced hard decisions on strengthening Europe’s AI capabilities that require “substantial public and private investment” and needed to figure out what AI technologies it wants to spend its money on.“Europe needs to define its position in this global race,” the EU said.Friday’s summit also focused on expanding the use of AI across the economy and society while also protecting against harms caused by AI.“Ensuring that AI remains safe and trustworthy will be essential to building public confidence and enabling its widespread use in society,” the EU said.Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads