If a number of conferences and debates within less than two weeks, is a certain sign of relevance and actual issue, then artificial intelligence (AI) achieves this without a problem.
In October alone, AI was discussed at a meeting of experts in Estonia, a forum in Finland and several conferences and hearings in Brussels.
“AI has become a key focus of attention in the media and elsewhere,” said Alan Defo, the director of the artificial intelligence programme at the University of Oxford, during a hearing in the European Parliament.
“A large part of this interest is also dictated by misunderstanding, but my belief is that AI will be an important technology in this century. In fact, I would say that how we will build an advanced AI will be the decisive for the development of the 21st century, he added.
It is clear that Europe is looking for a way to make use of the benefits that AI can bring, but also that it will try to shape the development of AI to mitigate some of the possible negative effects.
It is very difficult at this stage to assess the impact of artificial intelligence on the EU labour market. We still have insufficient data and experience, but for the world’s largest single market, there is a reason for optimism. Artificial intelligence is likely to create a lot of jobs. New technologies always destroy them at first, but later they do create more and often better positions.
The problem is often that when development takes place at European level, a compromise must be sought. Very often, people who have a high level of skills cannot use them completely because they are limited by the need to reach a compromise in various areas such as regulation, production, development, etc. The EU is trying to achieve these compromises. The Commission is currently working with the national governments of the Union Member States in a coordinated plan for artificial intelligence, which must be completed before the end of the year. The idea is that Europe can offer an environment between the US and China and guide the shaping of the values that will be programmed in the AI systems.
All this is happening against the backdrop of the rising speed of technological race at global level. This week, China presented a third prototype to an exascale computer. The machine is is able to execute a quintillion calculations per second and is considered as the next generation of supercomputers.
