In the global Artificial Intelligence scenario, Europe has accrued a significant lag in the developments of basic technologies, which is also difficult to bridge due to the investment gap with the US and China. However, Europe’s role cannot be limited to the function of the regulatory arbiter between the two American and Asian competitors.
The Above AI approach can provide Europe with an industrial strategy on Artificial Intelligence, based on several assumptions: in a short time AI technologies will be commodities widely available even in opensource, the financial speculative bubble will soon burst exposing the limits of the current AI development and business model, several socioeconomic actors – public and private – will go in search of more controllable, secure, transparent solutions, alternatives to the current approaches that highlight risks on the legal, psychological, educational, and employment fronts.
The lag of European states and companies can turn into an advantage if we can occupy an “Above AI” position, creating applications that guarantee effective results while maintaining human control of Artificial Intelligence processes.
All of this is in line with European principles on digital: opposition to private monopolies and dominant positions, adoption of public standards and in general of the AI sphere as a public space, respect for privacy, copyright, competition and in general European values, including security and the protection of minorities, the weak, but also education, pluralism and space for small and medium-sized European companies.
Italiano