Dive Brief:
- The executive branch of the European Union has set a five-point AI action plan to boost the region's compute capacity, improve access to talent and support legislation compliance, according to a Wednesday announcement.
- As part of the push, the European Commission expects to at least triple its data center capacity in the next five to seven years, according to the document. The Commission will also spur the recruitment and development of AI talent through targeted fellowship programs.
- With the EU AI Act in effect, the Commission said it plans to establish an AI Act Service Desk, a central point of contact and information hub to help businesses comply with the regulation. Data readiness and cross-sector AI adoption are also part of the action plan.
Dive Insight:
The EU's AI Continent Action Plan comes amid a global rush to establish leadership in the transformative technology field.
In January, the U.S. announced a $500 billion plan to bolster domestic compute capacity. The four-year roadmap, dubbed "Stargate," has the backing of top technology providers including OpenAI, Oracle and Microsoft.
The initiative builds off InvestAI, a $220 billion (200 billion euro) funding project unveiled by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in February during the AI Action Summit in Paris.
As part of InvestAI, the Commission announced a $21.9 billion (20 billion euro) fund aimed at standing up four AI "gigafactories" across Europe. The forthcoming infrastructure hubs will each include 100,000 AI chips, about four times more than the EU’s current AI factories, according to a February announcement.
In addition to making capital investments, the EU will address critical AI adoption hurdles, including access to talent and data readiness.
Globally, generative AI adoption rates have stalled, according to Accenture. The firm found that fewer than 2 in 5 executives say their organization has scaled the technology.
"This action plan outlines key areas where efforts need to intensify to make Europe a leading AI continent," said Henna Virkkunen, EVP for tech sovereignty, security and democracy for the European Commission, in the announcement. "We are working towards a future where tech innovation drives industry and public services forward, bringing concrete benefits to our citizens and businesses through trustworthy AI."
Success of the action plan will hinge on its execution across infrastructure, data and expertise, according to Nader Henein, VP analyst at Gartner.
“For CIOs in Europe, especially those in traditional industries, the AI Continent Action Plan is akin to tying their AI strategy to a rocket and propelling it at speed,” Henein said in an email to CIO Dive. “The European Commission and by extension the 27 member states, do not want to find themselves lagging on AI in the same way as with cloud services, which suffer from an overwhelming dependency on US headquartered providers.”
CIOs that can align their AI strategies to the plan can reap benefits from it, Henein said.
“We have seen similar (albeit smaller) initiatives come and go through the years with little impact, so what we will be watching out for is strong leadership and clear deliverables slotted against a strict timeline,” said Henein. “This will allow CIOs to align their AI strategies accordingly and reap the benefits from the action plan.”
