Move to boost AI research amid concerns Europe is losing ground to US and China

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Brussels has called for a €20bn (£14bn) cash injection for artificial intelligence research, while pouring cold water over controversial plans to give robots human rights.

The European commission wants governments and private companies to boost research and innovation spending on AI, amid rising concern that Europe is losing ground to the US and China, where most leading AI firms are based.

Health, transport and agriculture are among the areas the commission would like researchers to prioritise. But the commission distanced itself from proposals to give the most advanced robots the legal status of personhood.

“I don’t think it will happen,” Andrus Ansip, a commission vice-president in charge of digital single-market policy told journalists. “I don’t think my vacuum cleaner has to get human rights.”



Give robots 'personhood' status, EU committee argues Read more

Last year a committee of MEPs argued that robots should have a form of electronic personhood, raising the idea of machines being sued in law courts. The proposals were made under the parliament’s own-initiative powers, meaning they had no implications for EU law.



The commission said it would appoint a committee to draw up ethical guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence. The group of experts from business, civil society and academia will be convened by July to consider AI and its impact on society, including work, social inclusion and privacy.



Commission officials stressed they wanted a human-centric approach to AI policy. “Robots will never become humans,” said Elżbieta Bieńkowska, the European commissioner for industry.

Researchers have said Europe risks being left behind, as the US and China ramp up spending. US tech firms have been luring top British PhD researchers with six-figure salaries. In an attempt to stop the brain drain, leading scientists have drawn up plans for a vast multinational European AI institute. Named the European Lab for Learning and Intelligent Systems – or Ellis – it would have centres in a number of countries, including the UK.

Last month Emmanuel Macron, the French president, announced €1.5bn in public funding for artificial intelligence by 2022, in a move to turn France into a “startup nation”.



To meet the €20bn target, the commission promised to increase its spending by €1.5bn in 2018-20, under the EU research programme known as Horizon 2020. It hopes this will trigger €2.5bn in extra spending through public-private partnerships.



The UK is among a group of 24 European countries that signed a declaration this month pledging a European approach to artificial intelligence. “It can ... solve key societal challenges, from sustainable healthcare to climate change and from cybersecurity to sustainable migration,” the ministerial declaration said.



Against the backdrop of Brexit, tensions have flared over Britain’s role in EU scientific projects. The UK is considering plans to launch its own satellite navigation system as a rival to the EU’s Galileo, amid a row over information security.



Greg Clark, the business secretary, has taken legal advice on whether the UK can reclaim €1.4bn it has invested since the project’s launch, the Financial Times reported.



Bieńkowska, who will be delivering the project, said she would be speaking to the secretary of state later on Wednesday. “The fact is that the UK, Britain, will become a third country from 30 March next year and of course we are assessing the consequences ... both for the 27 member states and for the UK.”

She said it was “the right time to start thinking about adjusting cooperation” on Galileo, adding that her main priority was to deliver the satellite navigation system “on time and on budget”.