Artificial Intelligence: how can we harness Europe’s innovative potential?
Sep 24, 2024
4:40 to 5:55
Artificial Intelligence: how can we harness Europe’s innovative potential?
The EU’s AI Act came into force on 1 August 2024. Though lagging the United States and China in AI development, the EU is striving to establish itself as a global rule-setter in digital technologies. With concerns running high for some about AI-powered techniques such as profiling, targeting, election manipulation, and disinformation campaigns, eurocrats have celebrated the EU AI Act as the globe’s first comprehensive legal framework around AI. Yet the ability of European businesses to catch up with the pace of AI development and implementation remains very much in doubt.
Can European businesses overcome the challenges posed by this stringent regulatory landscape to remain competitive on the global stage? Mark Zuckerberg and Daniel Ek, CEOs of Facebook and Spotify, recently issued a high-profile statement warning that ‘pre-emptive regulation of theoretical harms for nascent technologies such as open-source AI will stifle innovation’ and ‘Europe’s risk-averse, complex regulation could prevent it from capitalising on the big bets that can translate into big rewards’. Others welcome the EU’s attempt to build public confidence in AI and to shape its future direction to maximise public goods and minimise harmful and unforeseen consequences.
In addition to questions over the EU’s risk averse approach to regulation, industry also warn of other drawbacks, including investment shortfalls and scalability issues, that could hinder innovation. As one Silicon Valley entrepreneur has commented, innovation in Europe is held back by an absence of ‘genuine risk-seeking capital at all stages’ pointing to a wider problem of risk aversion. Join us to contribute to the discussion about Europe’s appetite for investment in AI and whether the EU AI Act is stifling innovation or helping to shape the development and use of AI in a way that maximises its potential to do good?
Keith Teare, Silicon Valley based entrepreneur and CEO of SignalRank Corporation
It is part of the event Unshackling Europe’s Economy: what holds us back?
