Denmark will take over the EU presidency next week.
Here, we will, among other things, contribute to the EU’s “Digital Agenda”. It is a political project with roots all the way back to the establishment of the European Union after the Second World War, i.e. the development of the internal market, and later a political union around, for example, foreign policy, migration and security.
In the EU, the political agenda for both physical and later digital infrastructure has always had the purpose of supporting these goals.
Over time, we have seen several major paradigm shifts in the actual implementation of this agenda, often closely linked to the geopolitical security situation and the need for alliance building.
In recent years, for example, there has been momentum to strengthen digital sovereignty and promote AI developed on the basis of European values.
However, it only took a few months after the adoption of the EU AI regulation last year before it was challenged.
A code is currently being developed with input from over 1,000 stakeholders to clarify the rules in AI legislation for providers of “general purpose AI”.
This concerns a set of detailed requirements for, for example, transparency, risk minimization and copyright for virtually all major AI providers today. Including OpenAI’s GPT models, Anthropic’s Claude, Meta’s LLaMA and Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion.
According to the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and LobbyControl, there is considerable pressure from American Big Tech companies in this regard, and the US government delegation to the EU contacted the EU Commission and several member states in the spring to oppose the adoption of the code in its current form.
In other words: the EU’s implementation of digital infrastructure has always been driven by more than just a desire for technical interoperability and European interests.
For example, not just the EU’s security policy, but the geopolitical security situation and alliances in general.
See for example here at former AI Act rapporteur Dragos Tudorache’s AI Forum in 2022, which I moderated:
The panel debate, which was set off with a speech by NATO’s Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Geoană, was about the EU building military capabilities not only to act alone in emergencies, but also to supplement allies and enable coordinated efforts, primarily within NATO, and thus also about developing defense capabilities, where AI has increasingly become an integral part of security.
I would like to see more focus on this broader perspective when Denmark takes over the presidency.
Digital sovereignty has always been part of the EU’s tech agenda. But great external pressure has shaped the implementation, and it will continue to do so.
For the past many years, I have been researching the development of the EU’s tech agenda with a focus on data and the AI agenda. Through extensive empirical research based on direct involvement in the development of the EU’s AI agenda and diplomacy in particular. See relevant publications here:
Commentary on DataEthics.eu:
Welcome to the Furture – It is not Yours
Relevant research publications:
Data ethics of power – A human approach in the big data and AI era. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd (kapitel 1 tilgængeligt online, se også hele bogen) https://www.elgaronline.com/monochap/9781802203103.00007.xml
Hasselbalch, G., Aguerre, C. (2024), The EU Human-Centric Approach to AI: Foundational Elements for a Global Framework, InTouchAI.eu and DataEthics.eu.
Making sense of data ethics: The powers behind the data ethics debate in European policymaking. Internet Policy Review, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.14763/2019.2.1401
Culture by Design
A framework for a data interest analysis of artificial intelligence. First Monday, 26(7). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v26i7.11091
Culture by design: A data interest analysis of the European AI policy agenda. First Monday, 25(12). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v25i12.10861
