Today, the European Commission presented its European data strategy and policy options to ensure both the human-centered development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as the development an EU data economy. This strategy aims to promote Europe's digital transformation, to boost the development of trustworthy technologies and to further contribute to the environmental transformation.
The presented AI framework continues the Commission's first AI strategy from 2018 and also builds upon the 'Ethics Guidelines on trustworthy AI' published in April 2019. The ideas and actions for the EU data economy build upon the Commission's earlier efforts taken since 2014, such as the Regulation on the free flow of non-personal data, the Cybersecurity Act, the Open Data Directive and the General Data Protection Regulation.
The data strategy entails the following aspects:
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AI: The Commission envisions a timely deployment of and framework for trustworthy AI systems across the EU both in the public and private sector.
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Particularly for addressing high-risk AI systems, strict rules for consumer protection, personal data and privacy, and against unfair commercial practices still apply.
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Data economy: A European data space is to be created, which will enable the exchange of previously unused and non-personal data. This will enable citizens, public administrations, academia and businesses to make better decisions based on knowledge derived from non-personal data.
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This single market for data would require a regulatory framework for data governance, data access and reuse between businesses, governments, and within administrations.
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Finally, the Commission seeks to narrow the gap of digital skills among EU citizens and is examining how citizens can better determine who can access their machine-generated data.
Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for Internal Market, said: “Our society is generating a huge wave of industrial and public data, which will transform the way we produce, consume and live. I want European businesses and our many SMEs to access this data and create value for Europeans – including by developing Artificial Intelligence applications. Europe has everything it takes to lead the ‘big data' race, and preserve its technological sovereignty, industrial leadership and economic competitiveness to the benefit of European consumers.”
Source: EC
More information, Factsheet and White Paper on AI