The European Union is working to push artificial intelligence in the bloc to become a leader in the sector with its new AI Continent Action Plan that started Wednesday with two public consultations on crucial issues.
The consultations call for interested parties to chip in on the Cloud and AI Development Act and to identify priorities on the Apply AI Strategy, both currently in development and part of the general action plan the Commission is working on.
“Artificial intelligence is at the heart of making Europe more competitive, secure and technologically sovereign. The global race for AI is far from over. Time to act is now,” said Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.
The Cloud and AI Development Act will help by tripling the EU-based data centres in the next five to seven years. As part of the general action plan, the Commission will push for a network of AI Factories around the bloc, with 13 already active. In addition, the EU is going to help create new AI Gigafactories, large facilities with four times more AI chips compared to current ones. The aim behind the creation of these gigafactories is to maintain Europe’s strategic autonomy in industry and science. These gigafactories will benefit from €20 billion in investments from the InvestAI platform. It should help up to five of these across the EU.
Meanwhile, the Apply AI Strategy will seek to push for AI adoption by EU companies, with tailored solutions for industrial sectors. The Commission estimated that 13.5% of EU companies currently use AI, so they are keen on pushing for the adoption of this new technology. In order to facilitate adoption, the Commission will also develop AI fellowship schemes to attract top talent from outside the EU. It will provide training programmes for key industrial sectors to create a skilled class of workers.
The Commission will also pursue dialogues with industry representatives and the public sector to identify targeted action areas and how the EU can help integrate AI with businesses across the bloc.
