EuropeanAI Newsletter #78: Council's common position on the AIA + TTC
The EuropeanAI Newsletter
Covering Artificial Intelligence in Europe
Welcome to the EuropeanAI Newsletter covering the European AI and technology ecosystem. If you want to catch up on the archives, they're available here.
Today, the Telecom Council of Ministers will decide on the general approach to the AIA prepared by the Czech Presidency.
Cisco is planning to launch a new center in Spain tasked with the design of “next generation semiconductor devices”. At the same time, it appears that EU member states have reached a common position on the CHIPS Act, including on ‘mega fabs’, the establishment of competence centers in every member state and on making the originally proposed European Chips Infrastructure Consortia (ECIC) optional. One drawback is that 400m for the 3.3bn Chips for Europe package will have to be found elsewhere; the idea to draw these funds from unspent Horizon Europe money was rejected.
The UK and Switzerland signed a memorandum of understanding on research and innovation, with a particular focus on ‘deep science’ and ‘deep tech’, including artificial intelligence.
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Policy, Strategy and Regulation
Movement for Europe's Standardisation Strategy
The European Parliament’s IMCO committee published their draft report on the European Standardisation Strategy. The original strategy was proposed by the European Commission earlier this year and we reported on it here.
The IMCO committee’s report puts forward several considerations, highlighting the relevance of involving all relevant actors in upcoming procedures. This includes supporting the establishment of a High-Level Forum for Standardisation, which will, among other things, coordinate various approaches across European standardization bodies. As a reminder, CEN-CENELEC, for example, has a Joint Technical Committee 21 for ‘Artificial Intelligence’. This High-Level Forum is envisaged to be supported by an expert group and to consult with a diverse range of additional stakeholders. The scope of stakeholder involvement is broadened later on in the report, suggesting “direct funding or technical support” also to those organizations that work adjacent to the standardization process and are not directly (i.e. providing technical know-how) involved.
In terms of measurement and tracking, the IMCO committee's report supports the development and set up of an annual standardization dashboard.
Notes in the Margins: Presumably, elements such as the standardization dashboard and cross-community collaboration on standards will also be very helpful in developing and tracking EU standards for AI. This is especially relevant in light of the standardization clauses within the AI Act, and, more broadly speaking, to ongoing standardization efforts involving the EU in other circumstances, such as through the TTC.
For completeness sake, it should be noted that the UK has set up a standards hub for AI. The hub is built around 4 pillars, meaning to shape the UK’s work on standardization for AI: it should act as an observatory; it serves as a convener and community facilitator for relevant ongoing efforts; it conducts research and strategic analysis; and, it educates and facilitates training on the topic.
Ecosystem
Last week, the UK’s Regulatory Horizon’s Council published two reports on the regulation of artificial intelligence and neurotechnologies as a medical device. Among its AI-specific recommendations are: to invest in the UK as a global centre for regulatory science and invest in the training of regulatory professionals with expertise in medical devices; to strengthen regulatory capacity and capability in AIaMD addressing pre-market and post-market phases; and, to aim for an AIaMD regulatory framework that is ‘legislatively light’ and maximizes the role of standards and guidance, building on existing regulations for SaMD whilst also addressing the specific challenges of AI technologies.
Notes in the Margins: The recommendations were welcome by the UK Secretary of State (Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) and may inform ongoing developments on the UK’s overarching regulatory framework for AI.
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Dessislava Fessenko provided research and editorial support.
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