With the development of AI, there is an ongoing competition on who will gain global leadership status and will be the frontrunner in charge of bringing the businesses and the citizens towards the new artificial intelligence technological revolution. Currently, the competition appears to be between two global powers only – the US and China, while Europe has fallen behind its competitors. How and will they catch up? Or is it a lost cause?
2020 AI Report By The European Commission
The European Commission at the beginning of this year has issued a report on AI in Europe, containing the forecasted strategy, as well as the challenges and opportunities ahead. The paper has not only addressed these issues, the commission has given concrete proposals in terms of regulations, data availability, and funding. The above three are the largest obstacles regarding the successful implementation of AI in Europe.
Strengthening Europe’s Role Vs Strengthening Europe’s Regulations
The EU seems to struggle to find a balance between being a strong competitor against the Americans and the Chinese and setting up a balanced regulatory framework. There is still no clear division between the “higher-risk” and “lower-risk” AI systems which can cause unnecessary prevention of AI development.
Moreover, while the publication record of the EU in the field of AI is impressive as compared to other countries and there are more than enough human talent resources, the funding is not sufficient. The gap between what the Chines and Americans are spending on R&D and what the EU is spending is immense. According to some metrics, the EU remains the second-largest economy, however, its competitive advantage against China and the USA in the AI race is steadily decreasing and the R&D costs are not increasing.
Lack Of Funding In The EU
While the regulatory framework must be improved, something we explored in depth here, according to the Deutsche Bank Research, the largest problem in the AI field in the EU remains the lack of funding.
Huge Gap Between The US And EU Investment Into AI
Although the investment that the EU made into AI has quadrupled from 2015 to 2019, it is now at approximately $4 billion annually. In comparison, the AI funding in China and the USA stands at $36 billion and $25 billion respectively.
The EU shows initiative to join the AI race and develop its competitive advantage against the current giants. Having said that, even with the venture capital fund created between the European Investment Fund and the European Commission and setting up programs that can increase the research and innovation in AI, it is still not sufficient.
Danger Of Undermining The AI Opportunities
Undermining the opportunities that AI brings in medicine, science, economic growth, and many different disciplines are dangerous. The AI revolutions that we could observe in the latest years, including extraordinary voice recognition or genome sequencing, prove the possible future impact of the technology.
Although we cannot measure the scope of AI in the next 10 years, and it will still take years for the technology to reach a level that some publications mention, the countries that want to matter in the race for leadership in AI must prepare the technical and legal background for it now.
