Why is it in the News?

To dissuade concerns that Europe is overregulating artificial intelligence (AI), which could stifle innovation in the bloc, the European Commission has released a set of rules to enable start-ups and other businesses to access hardware – such as supercomputers and computing capacity – for them to build large- scale AI models

Context:

• To address concerns about excessive regulation stifling innovation in Europe, the European Commission has introduced rules allowing startups and businesses to access hardware, like supercomputers, to develop large-scale AI models.
• This supports the EU's new AI Act, designed to promote trustworthy AI across the region.
• India is also considering a similar initiative to provide computing capacity for startups, aiming to establish high-capacity data centres through a public-private partnership model.
• Access to computing power is crucial for building advanced AI systems, alongside innovative algorithms and datasets, especially challenging for smaller businesses to obtain.

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, particularly computer systems.
• These processes include learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and language understanding.
• AI technologies enable machines to analyze large amounts of data, recognize patterns, and make decisions or predictions based on that data.
• There are several types of AI, including narrow or weak AI, which is designed for specific tasks like speech recognition or playing chess, and general or strong AI, which aims to perform any intellectual task that a human can do.
  • Machine learning, a subset of AI, involves training algorithms to recognise patterns in data and make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to do so.
• AI has applications across various industries, including healthcare, finance, transportation, and manufacturing.
• It is used for tasks such as medical diagnosis, fraud detection, autonomous vehicles, and predictive maintenance.
• As AI technology continues to advance, it holds the potential to revolutionize many aspects of society, improving efficiency, productivity, and decision-making processes.

What is Europe’s AI Innovation Plan?

• The European Commission has introduced a set of initiatives aimed at assisting European startups and small businesses in creating reliable AI technology.
• These initiatives encompass various measures to foster innovation among startups, including a proposal to grant special access to supercomputers for AI startups and the wider innovation community. The plan includes:
  • Acquiring, upgrading and operating AI-dedicated supercomputers to enable fast machine learning and training of large general-purpose AI (GPAI) models.
  •  Facilitating access to the AI dedicated supercomputers, contributing to the widening of the use of AI to a large number of public and private users, including start-ups and SMEs.
  •  Supporting the AI startup and research ecosystem in algorithmic development, testing evaluation and validation of large-scale AI models.
  •  Enabling the development of a variety of emerging AI applications based on GPAI models.

How is the EU’s Plan Similar to India’s?

• The Indian government is currently outlining an AI Mission, which is expected to undergo Cabinet approval soon, with a budget exceeding Rs 10,000 crore.
  • As part of this initiative, the government aims to develop its own 'sovereign AI,' enhance computational capabilities domestically, and provide compute-as-a-service to Indian startups.
  • Capacity building will be pursued both within the government and through a public-private partnership model, emphasizing India’s goal to capitalize on the forthcoming AI boom as a vital economic driver.
• Overall, the country aims to establish a computing capacity ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 GPUs (graphic processing units) through the PPP model, in addition to 1,000-2,000 GPUs facilitated by the PSU Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
  • The government is exploring various incentive structures for private companies to establish computing centres in the country, including capital expenditure subsidies, operational expense-based incentives, and a "usage" fee model.
• The government intends to transform the GPU assembly into a digital public infrastructure (DPI), allowing startups to access its computational capacity at a reduced cost, without having to invest in GPUs, which are typically the largest expense in such operations.

Why is the EU especially enabling AI Innovation?

• Until now, the most prominent advancements in AI have been spearheaded by American companies like OpenAI and Google, along with emerging ventures such as Perplexity and Anthropic.
• Europe, which has traditionally prioritized regulating technologies with a focus on human rights, has faced criticism from the industry for potentially overregulating AI even before its widespread adoption across the continent.
  • Unlike the US, where numerous American companies have made significant strides in offering hardware services to businesses, Europe has identified a need to facilitate access to hardware resources for AI development.
• This move by the European Commission follows the introduction of an AI Act last year, which has faced criticism.
  • The legislation aims to establish safeguards for AI usage within the EU, including clear guidelines for its adoption by law enforcement agencies and provisions empowering consumers to report any perceived violations.
  • Additionally, the AI Act imposes stringent restrictions on facial recognition technology and the use of AI to influence human behaviour, while also outlining severe penalties for companies found in breach of these regulations.
• Moreover, the legislation stipulates that governments can employ real-time biometric surveillance in public areas only in cases involving serious threats, such as terrorist attacks.

European Commission (EC)

• The European Commission is the European Union's executive body and represents the interests of Europe as a whole.
  • It drafts proposals for new European laws.
  • It manages the day-to-day business of implementing EU policies and spending EU funds.
• It is made up of 27 commissioners (one from each member state) and is based in Brussels.
  • Each member state nominates a commissioner, but the nominated candidates must be approved by the European Parliament.
  • The Parliament must also approve the President of the European Commission.
• The current President of the European Commission is Ursula von der Leyen.
• Commissioners do not represent their countries. Instead, they have a field of responsibility.
• To assist the commissioners in the performance of their duties, there is a staff of about 32,000 people employed by the Commission.
  • This staff comes from all of the Member States and includes policy officers, translators, lawyers and researchers.

What does the European Commission do?

• Legislation – The Commission initiates legislation. It makes proposals for laws that are sent to the European Parliament and Council of the European Union for approval.
• Upholding EU law – The Commission can take action against businesses or states that are failing to comply with EU law.
• Policy – The Commission is the executive of the EU. It manages policies and drafts budgets.
• Representation – The Commission represents the EU in negotiations with other countries or organisations.
• The Commission meets once a week to adopt proposals, finalise policy papers and make decisions.
  • Decisions are taken by a simple majority vote.