The Missing Link in Europe's AI Strategy

BRUSSELS – The European Commission's strategy for artificial intelligence focuses on the need to establish "trust" and "excellence." Recently proposed AI regulation, the Commission argues, will create trust in this new technology by addressing its risks, while excellence will follow from EU member states investing and innovating. With these two factors accounted for, Europe's AI uptake supposedly will accelerate. Unfortunately, protecting EU citizens' fundamental rights, which should be the AI regulation's core objective, appears to be a secondary consideration; and protections for workers' rights don't seem to have been considered at all. AI is a flagship component of Europe's digital agenda, and the Commission's legislative package is fundamental to the proposed single market for data.