In her 2023 State of the Union address, European Union President Ursula von der Leyen introduced a groundbreaking initiative aimed at providing artificial intelligence (AI) startups with expedited access to Europe’s supercomputing resources.
Von der Leyen emphasized the significance of AI as a versatile and rapidly advancing technology with applications spanning civilian and military domains. She stressed the urgency of responsibly guiding AI’s development within a limited timeframe.
The president articulated her vision for a new global AI framework built on three fundamental pillars: guardrails, governance, and guiding innovation.
Under the “guardrails” pillar, she highlighted the EU’s “AI Act” as a blueprint for the world, signifying the importance of establishing regulatory safeguards for AI technologies.
For the “governance” pillar, von der Leyen urged the global community to establish a governance council akin to the International Panel on Climate Change, emphasizing the need for international cooperation and oversight in the AI domain.
Lastly, to support the “guiding innovation” aspect, President von der Leyen announced a comprehensive EU initiative. This initiative is designed to facilitate swifter access to Europe’s powerful supercomputers for AI startups, enabling them to train models and conduct research.
She proudly noted that Europe now boasts three of the world’s top five most powerful supercomputers and emphasized the importance of capitalizing on this technological leadership.
President von der Leyen also commended U.S. technology companies that voluntarily adopted AI standards and ethics, as well as EU companies that followed suit. She expressed the need to consolidate these efforts toward establishing global standards for the safe and ethical use of AI.
In summary, the European Union’s new initiative aims to foster innovation in AI by providing startups with enhanced access to supercomputing resources while advocating for comprehensive global AI governance and ethical standards.
