24 EU Countries Sign Artificial Intelligence Pact in Bid to Compete with US & China

Twenty-four EU countries pledged to band together to form a "European approach" to artificial intelligence in a bid to compete with American and Asian tech giants.

Ministers signed a declaration on Tuesday (10 April) saying they will consider putting public research funding into AI, but did not promise a specific amount of dedicated new investments.

All EU member states except for Cyprus, Romania, Croatia and Greece vowed to "modernise national policies" as part of an effort to develop large-scale AI research.

One Commission official said the four EU countries that did not sign were not opposed to the initiative but might still need formal approval before signing. Norway also signed the declaration.

European politicians are scrambling to amp up their work on AI by earmarking public funds and nudging companies to invest in technologies like robotics and medical applications that process huge amounts of data.

The EU's investment in AI lags behind the US and China, and the bloc's new initiative could still be hampered by competition between member states, or by their differing positions on regulation.

EU Digital Commissioner Mariya Gabriel will publish a strategy paper on AI on 25 April that she said will outline legal issues that the technology is likely to create, and also address fears about robots replacing jobs. She will not propose binding legislation focused on AI this month, but has not ruled out regulating the technology at a later point.

National governments have made a rush of recent announcements relating to AI. French President Emmanuel Macron was the latest leader to focus on the technology when he revealed a plan last month in pump a total of €1.5 billion in public funding into AI research over the next four...