BERLIN: Europe must strive to lead in the AI race, top officials urged Tuesday at a summit focused on propelling the region to the forefront of the digital era and reducing its reliance on US tech titans.&nbsp;As the Berlin gathering got underway, the EU also announced that Amazon and Microsoft cloud services could face stricter competition rules in the bloc as Brussels probes their market power.&nbsp;The summit brought together leaders from Europe&#39;s tech sector, and was to be addressed by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron later Tuesday.&nbsp;&quot;Europe&#39;s goal is very simple: we want to lead, not follow, on AI and frontier technologies,&quot; European Commission digital chief Henna Virkkunen told the opening of the event.&nbsp;&quot;We have the market, we have the talent, we have the ambition. Now we must deliver scale in investment, innovation and uptake.&quot;&nbsp;Europe is responding to calls to blaze its own digital path and take steps to catch up in the AI race against China and the United States.&nbsp;Concerns about US tech dominance have also grown as ties with Washington become increasingly uneasy under the &quot;America First&quot; administration of Donald Trump.&nbsp;Despite the US-Europe tensions, a senior official from the French presidency said the summit was not about &quot;confrontation&quot; with the United States or even China.&nbsp;Rather it is about &quot;how we protect our core sovereignty and what rules need to be established, especially at the European level&quot;, said the official.&nbsp;&nbsp;Become a creatorAlso speaking at the opening, German Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger said that &quot;for too long, Europe has been mainly a customer and a bystander.&nbsp;&quot;Now we must become a creator&quot;.&nbsp;But the continent is &quot;not moving fast enough,&quot; he said, adding that &quot;regulation is too complex and infrastructure is still behind&quot;.&nbsp;His comments came a day before the EU was set to propose a rollback of its rules on AI and data protection -- a move welcomed by businesses, but criticised by privacy advocates.&nbsp;Virkkunen also announced the move against Amazon and Microsoft cloud services in Berlin, saying that twin investigations aim to assess whether the tech giants &quot;should be designated as the gatekeepers on cloud computing&quot;.&nbsp;The European Commission, the bloc&#39;s digital regulator, said it will investigate whether Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft&#39;s Azure should come under the scope of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).&nbsp;Efforts to build up &quot;sovereign&quot; EU cloud computing capabilities, which proponents argue would better protect Europeans&#39; data, were also being discussed in Berlin.&nbsp;Digital ministers from across Europe, as well as CEOs of tech firms like France&#39;s Mistral and Germany&#39;s SAP, were attending, and announcements on new digital initiatives were expected.

Artificial Intelligence

Europe wants to lead in AI and is probing Amazon and Microsoft cloud services under the DMA for potential "gatekeeper" status. Officials at the German summit urged Europe to move faster, become a "creator," and protect its digital sovereignty.



Europe challenges US tech giants at AI summit

LONDON: Britain&#39;s music industry contributed &pound;8 billion to the UK economy in 2024, but the effects of Brexit and AI have clouded the sector&#39;s outlook, an industry report showed Wednesday.&nbsp;UK tours by Taylor Swift and Take That helped lift the industry&#39;s contribution to the UK economy last year, according to the annual report from UK Music, an umbrella organization for the industry.&nbsp;Music exports were also boosted by the international success of artists such as Charli XCX and Lola Young.&nbsp;However, annual growth was slower than the double-digit increases recorded in the immediate aftermath of the Covid pandemic, the report said.&nbsp;UK Music&#39;s chief executive Tom Kiehl warned that the industry faced a number of challenges, pointing to the &quot;need for urgent action&quot;.&nbsp;He said that the UK government would be judged on the &quot;progress it makes in regulating artificial intelligence and unlocking EU touring&quot;.&nbsp;The impact of Brexit, such as through increased touring costs, red tape and fewer EU clients making recording studio bookings, is &quot;still bad and is getting worse&quot;, the report said.&nbsp;Elsewhere, two-thirds of music creators surveyed by UK Music said that AI poses a threat to their career.&nbsp;Ninety percent of British music creators said protections should be in place to stop their work being used without permission or payment.&nbsp;The UK government plans to make it easier for AI companies to access data by introducing a copyright exception for commercial AI training with its Data (Use and Access) Bill.&nbsp;Under the proposed law, companies developing AI models would not need permission from creatives to access certain content, a plan that has provoked a fierce backlash from the cultural sector.

UK Music’s 2024 report says the industry added £8 billion to the economy but faces threats from Brexit and AI, warning of rising touring costs, copyright risks, and slower growth despite major tours and exports.

UK music industry warns growth threatened by AI, Brexit

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ISLAMABAD: China has released official guidelines to systematically integrate artificial intelligence into government operations, aiming to enhance efficiency, decision-making, and security. The guidelines have been issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the National Development and Reform Commission, said a statement posted on Chinse government website on Saturday. According to the statement, the guidelines provide direction for the deployment, application and continuous optimization of AI large model technologies, products and services across agencies. Systematic and orderly approach&nbsp;They aim to ensure a systematic and orderly approach to integrating AI by emphasizing planning, intensive development, people-orientation, collaborative construction and sharing, as well as ensuring high efficiency, safety and effectiveness. The guidelines emphasize scenario-driven approaches.&nbsp; &ldquo;By focusing on common and high-frequency needs in areas such as governmental services, social governance, office operations and decision-making support &mdash; governmental departments are encouraged to select typical scenarios for the exploration and application of AI large models based on local conditions and existing technological foundations to standardize deployment,&rdquo; the statement said. &lsquo;Coordinated and intensive&rsquo;&nbsp;The Chinese government issued guidelines state that AI deployment in government affairs should be coordinated and intensive.&nbsp; &ldquo;Prefectural cities should follow provincial guidelines, while counties should reuse computing power and model resources from higher-level governments.&rdquo; Additionally, data governance should be strengthened to improve data quality and support optimized AI model training, the guidelines said. The guidelines also stress the importance of operational management, noting that departments should balance workload reduction with technological empowerment &mdash; avoiding excessive focus on technological advancement and preventing &quot;digital formalism&quot;.&nbsp; Model hallucinations&nbsp;&ldquo;A life cycle management system should define application methods and boundaries, emphasizing AI&#39;s auxiliary role to mitigate risks such as model hallucinations,&rdquo; the official statement says. The guidelines propose the implementation of robust safety management, including the establishment of a safety responsibility system to clarify safety duties and tasks, and enhance the capacity to respond to AI security risks.&nbsp; Additionally, adhering to confidentiality requirements is essential to prevent the input of State secrets, work secrets and sensitive information into nonclassified AI large models, thereby mitigating the risk of leaks caused by the aggregation and association of sensitive data. The guidelines also emphasize the need to strengthen organization and implementation by accelerating the development of a national standard system for AI large models in the government affairs sector and establishing key standards.&nbsp; Improving digital literacyThis also involves promptly summarizing and promoting typical scenarios and innovative applications. Monitoring and evaluation should be conducted by establishing a comprehensive system for the entire process of deploying and applying AI large models in the government affairs sector to facilitate continuous iterative optimization, according to the guidelines.&nbsp; Training and publicity efforts should be enhanced to improve the application capabilities and proficiency of staff and to elevate the digital literacy of the entire population, the statement concludes.

China's new AI guidelines direct systematic integration of large models in government work, emphasizing efficiency, safety, scenario-based deployment, data governance, risk mitigation, staff training, digital literacy, and a national standard system for continuous improvement.

Articles tagged with "Artificial Intelligence"

Europe challenges US tech giants at AI summit

UK music industry warns growth threatened by AI, Brexit

China releases guidelines to direct implementation of AI in government work