The middle way: Europe's AI strategy

There are two global hotspots in the development of artificial intelligence: Silicon Valley and China. Today, the European Commission will lay out its plan to catch up, publishing a document outlining its long-term AI strategy. It casts Europe as a middle ground, with a stance somewhere between the state-backed firms of China and America's data-rich tech outfits, such as Google. The plan emphasises digital rights and ethics--the commission promises an ethics charter next year, and a global push for co-operation on standards co-ordinated through bodies such as the UN and the OECD. It also commits to spending €110m ($134m) to set up repositories of data and algorithms available to smallish firms getting started in AI. In total, the commission will put forward €14bn in its next budget to support research and development in AI.