According to the European Court of Auditors, the EU cannot keep up with AI investments. (picture alliance/dpa/Oliver Berg)
According to the European Court of Auditors, the European Union has not been able to keep up with leading global players in terms of investment in artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years. "EU investment in AI increased steadily between 2018 and 2020", according to a report by the Luxembourg-based authority.
Nevertheless, the AI investment gap between the United States and the EU, which affects both the public and private sectors, is estimated to have more than doubled during this period. "The EU is trailing by more than 10 billion euros," according to the Court of Auditors.
Furthermore, data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed that the EU was also lagging behind the US and China in terms of venture capital investment in AI in 2021 and 2022, the Court of Auditors said.
AI investments from the EU budget have increased, according to the data. A spokesperson for the European Commission emphasized that more than one billion euros per year is already being invested in AI research projects. However, according to the Court of Auditors, the EU funds only account for a small proportion of the total public and private investment in AI in the EU.
According to the Court of Auditors, a lack of ambition for investment targets "contrasts with the objective of building a globally competitive AI ecosystem". The EU's investment targets have remained unchanged since 2018 and are therefore outdated. While the EU had targeted public and private investment in AI amounting to 20 billion euros for the entire period from 2018 to 2020, the authority had planned to make one such contribution per year for the following 10 years.
The Court of Auditors considers it important to invest money in artificial intelligence. The proportion of companies using AI varies greatly, depending on the member state. "France and Germany have announced the largest public AI investments, while four countries are still without any AI strategies at all," explained the Court of Auditors. It was important to agree with member states on how their investments would help achieve EU goals, the court said.
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