British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Jian Zhang | Pool | Getty Images
LONDON — Two countries are vying to be the artificial intelligence capital of Europe.
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have both made bold statements about AI in recent weeks, both trying to carve out a piece of the highly hyped market.
“I think we (in artificial intelligence) are number one on the continent, and we have to step up,” Macron told CNBC’s Karen Tso on June 18 at Viva Tech, France’s annual tech conference. Sunak, on the other hand, positioned the UK as the “geographic home of global artificial intelligence”. “Artificial intelligence safety regulation” at the London Tech Week conference, June 12.
AI is seen as revolutionary and therefore of strategic importance to governments around the world.
The hype surrounding the technology was fueled in part by virality Microsoft– Support OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It is also a source of technological tension between the US and China as countries around the world try to harness the potential of the most critical technologies.
So, who is leading the race for the European AI crown?
money is important
At VivaTech Paris, Macron announces allocation of 500 million euros ($562 million) in new funding to create new AI “champions.” This builds on previous commitments made by the government, include a promise Invest 1.5 billion euros in artificial intelligence by 2022, trying to catch up with the US and Chinese markets.
“We’re going to invest like crazy in training and research,” Macron told CNBC, adding that France is well-positioned in AI because of its talent and the startups forming around the technology.
In March, the British government Pledge of £1 billion ($1.3 billion) for supercomputing and artificial intelligence research as it hopes to become a “science and technology superpower”.
As part of this strategy, the government expressed its desire to cost about £900 million Working on building an “exascale” computer capable of building its own “BritGPT,” which would rival OpenAI’s generative AI chatbot.
However, some officials have criticized the funding pledge, saying it is not enough to help the UK compete with giants such as the US and China.
Sajid Javid, a former government minister in former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet, told a fireside discussion at London Tech Week: “It sounds good, but it’s nowhere near where we need to be.”
Regulating AI misuse
A big difference between the UK and France is how each country chooses to regulate AI, and existing laws that affect the rapidly developing technology.
The European Union has created the Artificial Intelligence Act, which will be the first comprehensive set of laws in the West focused on artificial intelligence.the legislation is It was approved by lawmakers in the European Parliament in June.
It evaluates different applications of AI based on risk – for example, real-time biometrics and social scoring systems are deemed to pose “unacceptable risks” and are therefore prohibited by regulation.
France will be directly governed by the AI Law, and Minesh Tana said that if the relevant French regulators (whether it be the CNIL or a new AI-specific regulator) take a “positive approach” to its enforcement Will be “no surprise”, the global head of artificial intelligence at international law firm Simmons & Simmons.
In the UK, instead of enacting laws against AI, the government has published a white paper advising various industry regulators on how to enforce existing rules in their respective industries. The white paper takes a principles-based approach to regulating AI.
The government touted the framework as a “flexible” approach to regulation, which Tana said was more “pro-innovation” than the French approach.
He added: “In a post-Brexit world, the UK’s approach has been driven by a desire to encourage investment in AI,” giving the UK more “freedom and flexibility to regulate at the appropriate level to encourage investment.” “. Email to CNBC.
In contrast, the EU’s AI Act could make France less “attractive” for AI investment because it creates a “onerous regulatory regime” for AI, Tana said.
Who will win?
“France definitely has a chance to become a leader in Europe, but it faces stiff competition from Germany and the UK,” Anton Dabra, co-director of the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Autonomy, told CNBC via email.
Alexandre Lebrun, chief executive of Nabla, the AI co-pilot for doctors, said the UK and France were “probably on par” in terms of attractiveness to start an AI company.
“There’s a good talent pool, strongholds like Google and Facebook’s AI research centers, and a reasonable local market,” he told CNBC. But he warned that EU AI laws would make it “impossible” for startups to establish in the EU. artificial intelligence.
“If the UK adopts smarter laws at the same time, it will certainly win over the EU and France,” Le Brun added.
Meanwhile, London has been a source of pessimism in some corners of the industry, who criticize the country as unattractive for tech entrepreneurs.
Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labor Party, told attendees at London Tech Week that a series of political crises in the country had generally dampened investor confidence in technology.
“Many investors have said to me that we are not investing in the UK right now because we don’t see the conditions of political certainty we need to invest,” Starmer said.
Claire Trachet, CFO of French tech startup YesWeHack, Both the UK and France have the potential to challenge the dominance of US AI giants, but this involves both collaboration across Europe and competition between different centers.
“This will require a concerted effort by Europe’s tech superpowers,” she said. “In order to truly have a meaningful impact, they must leverage collective resources, foster collaboration, and invest in nurturing a robust ecosystem.”
Trachet added: “Combining strengths, especially Germany’s participation, could allow them to create a compelling alternative to disrupt the field of AI over the next 10-15 years, but this requires a high degree of strategic vision and a collaborative approach. “
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