01/10 : What does Europe need to be competitive in Artificial Intelligence?
On the 1st of October 2024, the Jacques Delors Centre, in collaboration with the French Embassy in Berlin, hosted a Franco-German panel discussion on the future of AI in the European Union.
The discussion, approached from a Franco-German and broader European perspective, underscored the main challenges facing the EU to become a global leader in AI innovation. Ambassador François Delattre highlighted the critical nature of these discussions for the future of Franco-German relations, even more so following the publication of the Draghi report, which proved to be quite alarmist on the subject.
Stefan Schnorr, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, stressed the importance of the EU Member States joining forces in the global race for innovation in the field of generative Artificial Intelligence. Regarding a Franco-German approach, he was optimistic: “What strikes me a lot is the vitality of the relations between our two countries’ companies, researchers, startups, the vitality of partnerships in terms of research efforts”.
Philippe Aghion, Professor at the Collège de France, emphasized the socio-economic consequences of such a technological revolution: “We should not fear the AI revolution. The revolution has high growth and employment potential, but we need to adapt institutions and policies to succeed in the transition to the AI economy”.
A European AI infrastructure with a Franco-German base
The first panel, including Maik Außendorf, Spokesperson for Digital Affairs and Member of the German Bundestag, Joanna Bryson, Professor of the Hertie School , Gesche Joost, Head of the Design Research Department of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Corinne Narassiguin, Senator in the French Senate and Rapporteur on AI and Frédéric Pascal, Director of the DATAIA Institute at CentralSupélec, moderated by Silke Wettach, expressed enthusiasm for the talent present in Europe, which should be encouraged to stay and continue to develop projects within the EU. Joanna Bryson opened the first panel with a strong message: “Regulation is essential for innovation. It is through regulation that we maintain the market, so we can get money to the right people”.
Another point of debate for the first panel was the attractiveness of the EU for global talent in the area of Artificial Intelligence – a lack of which is not the problem, according to Fréderic Pascal: “I think in Europe, we are very good at talent training. The next step is to keep the talent. If everybody knows that Europe is the continent for AI, of course people will stay”. To Maik Außendorf, a major contributor to this development would mean “setting up a European AI infrastructure, which could have a Franco-German base, but shouldn’t be limited to it“.
Finding balance while staying relevant
The second panel, including Robert Kilian, Board Member of the German AI Association, Marie-Avril Roux Steinkühler, Vice-President of French Tech Berlin, and Claire Thirriot-Kwant, Head of Finance and Economics at the French Embassy in Berlin, drew attention to the need of an innovation-friendly regulatory environment in the EU. Closely linked to the question of AI in the European single market was the matter of protecting rights through regulation: “We speak about electoral processes, we speak about health, we speak about avoiding discrimination, bias et cetera – so we have to find a balance”, Claire Thirriot-Kwant demanded. Implementing regulation such as the AI Act is therefore key for the success of AI in the European single market. For Robert Kilian, an important factor for this is the participation of the industry: “The AI standards are not the sole responsibility of politics, they are also not the sole responsibility of the administration. It is the possibility and obligation of all of us – the industry in particular”.
This event is organised by the Jacques Delors Centre and the French Embassy in Berlin, as part of the Pariser Platz Dialogue series, bringing together French, German, and European thought leaders to discuss European policy, initiated by Henrik Enderlein and supported by the German Foreign Office.
You can watch the recording of the event here :
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