Reading to EU Artificial Intelligency Topic for ERASMUS students

Introduction

Please find below a wide profiled text to approach to Your research topic: Artificial
Intelligency. This reading is full of useful links. It is divided two main parts: 1. EU approach
to AI and 2. AI in the European Labour Market. Please open the links and use them for Your
assignments: individual paper & group presentation as well. If possible please present the new
Proposal for an AI Regulation (see the link below) and also present AI info and
development from Your own country.

1. A European approach to artificial intelligence1

The EU’s approach to artificial intelligence centres on excellence and trust, aiming to boost
research and industrial capacity and ensure fundamental rights.

The European approach to artificial intelligence (AI) will help build a resilient Europe for the
Digital Decade where people and businesses can enjoy the benefits of AI. It focuses on 2
areas: excellence in AI and trustworthy AI. The European approach to AI will ensure that any
AI improvements are based on rules that safeguard the functioning of markets and the public
sector, and people’s safety and fundamental rights.

To help further define its vision for AI, the European Commission developed an AI strategy
to go hand in hand with the European approach to AI. The AI strategy proposed measures to
streamline research, as well as policy options for AI regulation, which fed into work on the AI
package.

The Commission published its AI package in April 2021, proposing new rules and actions to
turn Europe into the global hub for trustworthy AI. This package consisted of:

 a Communication on Fostering a European Approach to Artificial Intelligence;

 the Coordinated Plan with Member States: 2021 update;
 a proposal for an AI Regulation laying down harmonised rules for the EU (Artificial
Intelligence Act).

1.1. A European approach to excellence in AI

Fostering excellence in AI will strengthen Europe’s potential to compete globally.

The EU will achieve this by:

1. enabling the development and uptake of AI in the EU;

2. making the EU the place where AI thrives from the lab to the market;
1
Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-approach-artificial-intelligence
 3. ensuring that AI works for people and is a force for good in society;
4. building strategic leadership in high-impact sectors.

The Commission and Member States agreed boost excellence in AI by joining forces on AI
policy and investment. The revised Coordinated Plan on AI outlines a vision to accelerate, act,
and align priorities with the current European and global AI landscape and bring AI strategy
into action.

Maximising resources and coordinating investments is a critical component of the

Commission’s AI strategy. Through the Digital Europe and Horizon Europe programmes, the
Commission plans to invest €1 billion per year in AI. It will mobilise additional investments
from the private sector and the Member States in order to reach an annual investment volume
of €20 billion over the course of the digital decade.

The newly adopted Recovery and Resilience Facility makes €134 billion available for digital.
This will be a game-changer, allowing Europe to amplify its ambitions and become a global
leader in developing cutting-edge, trustworthy AI.

Access to high quality data is an essential factor in building high performance, robust AI
systems. Initiatives such as the EU Cybersecurity Strategy, the Digital Services Act and the
Digital Markets Act, and the Data Governance Act provide the right infrastructure for
building such systems.

1.2. A European approach to trust in AI

Building trustworthy AI will create a safe and innovation-friendly environment for users,
developers and deployers.

The Commission has proposed 3 inter-related legal initiatives that will contribute to building
trustworthy AI:

1. a European legal framework for AI to address fundamental rights and safety risks
specific to the AI systems;
2. EU rules to address liability issues related to new technologies, including AI systems
(last quarter 2021-first quarter 2022);
3. a revision of sectoral safety legislation (e.g. Machinery Regulation, General Product
Safety Directive, second quarter 2021).

1.3. European proposal for a legal framework on AI

The Commission aims to address the risks generated by specific uses of AI through a set of
complementary, proportionate and flexible rules. These rules will also provide Europe with a
leading role in setting the global gold standard.

This framework gives AI developers, deployers and users the clarity they need by intervening
only in those cases that existing national and EU legislations do not cover. The legal
framework for AI proposes a clear, easy to understand approach, based on four different
levels of risk: unacceptable risk, high risk, limited risk, and minimal risk.
The Proposal for a Regulation on artificial intelligence was announced by the Commission in
April 2021. It aims to address risks of specific uses of AI, categorising them into 4 different
levels: unacceptable risk, high risk, limited risk, and minimal risk.

In doing so, the AI Regulation will make sure that Europeans can trust the AI they are
using. The Regulation is also key to building an ecosytem of excellence in AI and
strengthening the EU's ability to compete globally. It goes hand in hand with the Coordinated
Plan on AI.

View the proposal for a Regulation in all EU languages on EUR-Lex

1.4. Important milestones

1.

April 2021

Fostering a European approach to artificial intelligence

Proposal for an AI regulation laying down harmonisation rules on artificial intelligence

Updated coordinated plan on AI

Impact assessment of the Regulation on artificial intelligence

2.

October 2020

2nd European AI alliance assembly

3.

July 2020

Artificial intelligence — ethical and legal requirements

Inception impact assessment

White paper on AI

Public Consultation

AI High Level Expert Group

Final assessment list on trustworthy AI (ALTAI)

Sectorial recommendations of trustworthy AI of the AI high level expert group

4.

February 2020

White paper on AI: a European approach to excellence and trust

5.

December 2019

Piloting of assessment list of trustworthy AI

6.

June 2019

First European AI assembly

Policy and investment recommendations of AI high level expert group

7.

April 2019

Communication: building trust in human-centric artificial intelligence

Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI

8.

December 2018

Cooordinated plan on AI(.pdf)

Press release: AI made in Europe

Communication: AI made in Europe (.pdf)

Stakeholder consultation on draft ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI

9.

June 2018

Launch of the European AI alliance

Set up of the high level expert group on AI

10.
 April 2018

Press release: Artificial intelligence for Europe

Communication: Artificial intelligence for Europe

Staff working document: Liability for emerging digital technologies

Declaration of cooperation on artificial intelligence

11.

March 2018

Press release: AI expert group and European AI alliance

Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence 2021 Review

Proposal for a Regulation on artificial intelligence
Strategy on artificial intelligence
White paper on artificial intelligence

Follow the latest progress and learn more about getting involved.

 Follow the Commission's work on robotics @RoboticsEU

2. AI Talent in the European Labour Market (2019)

Created by Justina Bieliauskaite Posted 19 August 2021

Source: https://digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/inspiration/research/ai-talent-european-labour-
market-2019

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hotly debated topic, particularly in the context of its impact on the
labour market and the workforce. This report offers a unique approach to the topic, outlining
new and evidence-based insights into the dynamic between AI and the labour market. In
addition, it also offers an an assessment of AI talent in
Europe and uncovers emerging trends that can help inform policymaking in this area. This report
examines the relative distribution and concentration of AI talent and skills across the EU Member
States, territories, and demographies.

For the purpose of this study, data generated by LinkedIn’s Economic Graph is used. It derives
not only from AI professionals – their skills, distribution by industry, and geographic location –
but also from AI job openings, measuring supply and demand of talent trends in real-time, and
providing a comprehensive baseline of insights that can better inform AI diffusion.

The paper explores four main areas: 1) the state of AI in the European Union, highlighting
similarities and differences across EU Member States; 2) characteristics of AI talent across EU
countries; 3) interpretations for the variations that can be noticed across countries; 4) policy
recommendations that can help to transform the EU into an
AI champion and simultaneously diversify the distribution of AI talent across socioeconomic and
geographic spheres.

Among some of its key findings, the research has revealed that AI talent is spread unequally
across Member States, industrial sectors, and demographic groups. Just three countries are home
to half of all the Europe’s AI talent: the highest proportion (24%) can be found in the UK,
followed by Germany (14%) and France (12%). The report also reveals that Europe is lagging
behind the United States. Furthermore, looking from the industry perspective, two-thirds of AI-
skilled individuals work in the technology (ICT) sector or within academia, which demonstrates
that AI knowledge and technologies have not yet diffused to many segments of the European
economy. Finally, the report also demonstrated that AI talent distribution is uneven across
gender, educational, and demographic lines.

Skills intelligence publication details

Website link
Study on AI Talent in the European Labour Market
Target audience
Digital skills for the labour force.
Digital technology / specialisation
Artificial Intelligence

2.1. AI Talent in the European Labour Market

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hotly debated topic, particularly in the context of its impact on
the labour market and the workforce. These vital discussions are all too often based on
assumptions and desktop projections rather than on concrete, objective data.

New research from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph uncovers novel, evidence-based insights into
the state of AI talent development in the European Union (EU) labour market, and identifies
emerging trends that can help inform policymaking in this area.

As detailed in a blog post by Sue Duke, Vice President and Head of Global Public Policy at
LinkedIn, key findings included:

 The European Commission has clear ambitions and goals for AI, but right now
Europe is lagging behind its peers in developing talent. The U.S. employs twice as
many AI-skilled individuals than the EU, despite the American total labour force
being just half the size. But our research also reveals that Europe can catch up
quickly: training and upskilling “near-AI” talent could double the size of the current
AI workforce in the EU.
  Industrial champions in Europe, such as the auto and manufacturing in
Germany, finance in the UK, healthcare in Belgium and telecommunications in
Finland, are currently magnets for AI talent. And it follows that large, well-
established companies are most likely to be first adopters of AI in the EU -- in contrast
to what we see in the U.S., where startups and digital natives are the earliest adopters
of the technology. With the right approach from policymakers to encourage building
these strong, foundational AI ecosystems, these industries can help diffuse AI skills
and talent more broadly into the economy.
 AI skills in Europe are concentrated in a small number of countries and
industries, and dominated by men. Among the starkest gaps is in gender: only 16%
of AI workers are women. This poses pressing risks -- not only are unequal,
homogenous workforces less productive, but gender and diversity imbalances more
broadly in the AI workforce makes AI systems development more vulnerable to bias.
Unless this imbalance is addressed, Europe risks widening the digital gap and leaving
a significant number of countries and sectors left behind in the push to digitise our
economy and society.

Download the Executive Summary

Download the Report

Interact with the Data

2.2. Digitalisation and labour market

The digital revolution is affecting the world of work in many ways. Not only is it changing the nature
of certain jobs, it is also disrupting the way work is offered, accessed and contracted. The growth of
digital labour platforms and the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence in recruitment and human
resources processes create new challenges regarding workers’ rights, and the need for a level-playing
field across diverse forms of work.

To address concerns surrounding the labour rights and social protection of people working through
digital labour platforms, the European Commission put forward in December 2021 a set of measures
to improve the working conditions in platform work and to support the sustainable growth of digital
labour platforms in the EU.

The World Employment Confederation-Europe broadly welcomes the objectives of the Commission’s
proposal and calls for establishing a level playing field between different forms of providing services
through the correct classification of online platform labour suppliers at national level and based on a
set of European criteria.

When discussing and defining digital labour platforms, it is essential to look at the underlying business
model and employment status of the diverse forms of organising work that are being offered through
digital labour platforms. Therefore the World Employment Confederation-Europe questions whether it
is appropriate to regulate the diversity of online labour platforms based on one legal basis and to use
the broad terminology of platform work. In a labour market that is characterised by diverse forms of
work, genuine self-employment intermediated via online labour platforms should be fully recognised
and remain possible.

The World Employment Confederation-Europe agrees with the European Commission that the correct
determination of the employment status is the right approach to improve the working conditions of
people offering services via digital labour platforms. The presumption of an employment relationship
can be a suitable way forward, if a balanced approach is taken at national level based on European
guidance.

With regard to algorithmic management, the World Employment Confederation-Europe believes that
any rules on online labour platforms should be fully consistent with the proposed Artificial
Intelligence Act and the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Additional rules on online labour
platforms in this area must be carefully assessed and justified.

The World Employment Confederation-Europe has for long been engaged on the issue of online talent
platforms. In 2017-2018, WEC-Europe conducted a joint project with UNI-Europa, in the context of
the social dialogue for the temporary agency work sector. Key recommendations put forward in this
project focused on applying existing regulation appropriately, ensuring the correct classification of
workers and the fostering of social innovation.

Amongst the digital solutions that can improve labour market functioning, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
is one that holds great potential to increase inclusiveness and efficiency.

AI allows to identify skills needs, support recruiters in matching people to jobs, improve fact-based
matching, identify and predict the interoperability of skills, traits and competences, predict labour
market developments, identify and prevent human-bias in recruitment procedures, identify the
sustainability of employment matches, support better efficiency of roles and tasks vis-à-vis skills and
competences available, support remote applications including for those that face disabilities, anticipate
labour demand fluctuations, create and configure jobs and tasks that align with the supply of workers
(and their work preferences, competence and skills), support human resource management, support
risk management and advise on the configuration and creation of efficient and diverse teams and
workforces.

Trustworthiness and proper controls on the collection, storage and use of data are in place are
prerequisite for the further uptake of digital technology. In its response to the European Commission’s
public consultation on its White Paper on Artificial Intelligence, the World Employment
Confederation- Europe insists on the need for a balanced regulatory framework to address concerns
related to the use of AI in HR services. The private employment services sector also makes proposals
to increase trust in the deployment of the technology to the benefit of labour markets inclusiveness and
efficiency.

In February 2021, WEC-Europe reached out the European Commission and the European Parliament
to express its concerns regarding some developments surrounding the legislative ambitions on AI in
the
EU: firstly, the intention to classify all workers’ rights and recruitment related AI as ‘high risk’, as
well as employment and recruitment as respectively ‘high risk’ sector and ‘high risk’ use or purpose
and secondly, the proposal for a third-party certification by new national public authority. For more
details, read the letter addressed to the European institutions.