Despite the dominance of the United States and China, the European Commission believes the race for AI is far from over. Yesterday, it unveiled measures that will make Europe the 'AI Continent', as announced last February during the AI Action Summit by its president Ursula von der Leyen.
The AI Continent Action Plan aims to transform European industries and its pool of talents into engines of innovation and acceleration in AI, positioning Europe as a global leader in the field. To meet this challenge, the European Commission relies on five strategic pillars: computing infrastructures, data access, AI adoption, skills, and regulatory simplification.
Strengthening Computing Infrastructures
The roadmap of the action plan includes the deployment of gigafactories, infrastructures designed to support the development of large-scale AI models. These will be equipped with about 100,000 next-generation AI chips, four times more than the 13 AI factories currently being installed around the network of 9 European supercomputers of EuroHPC. Of the 200 million from the Invest AI fund announced at the AI Summit, 20 will be allocated to five of these giga-factories.
The Commission also aims, through the 'Cloud and AI Development Act', to triple the capacity of European data centers within the next five to seven years.
Optimizing Data Access
To ensure effective AI development, access to high-quality data volumes is essential. To this end, the Action Plan provides for the creation of Data Labs responsible for centralizing, structuring, and enriching large sets of diverse data. Additionally, the European Commission will launch a Data Union Strategy in 2025, aiming to establish a true internal data market and facilitate the growth of large-scale AI solutions.
Adoption of AI in Strategic Sectors
Currently, only 13.5% of European companies use AI. To reverse this trend, the Commission is launching the Apply AI strategy, aimed at encouraging AI integration in both public and private sectors.
Training and Attracting Talents
To meet the growing demand for AI talents, the European Commission is implementing measures to enhance the sector's attractiveness and facilitate the recruitment of highly qualified experts. Through initiatives like the Talent Pool, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action 'MSCA Choose Europe', and scholarship programs offered by the future AI Skills Academy, Europe intends to open legal migration pathways for foreign specialists while encouraging the return of European researchers and experts.
Regulatory Simplification
The AI Act Service Desk will be set up to assist companies in complying with AI legislation.