How Europe's AI strategy is getting it right

The European Commission's new White Paper on artificial intelligence (AI) may be the most ambitious yet realistic government strategy for AI we have seen. Aimed at fueling development of an AI ecosystem that fosters innovation and growth for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) while building on traditionally strong European sectors – industrial, transport, agriculture and tourism, for example – the strategy suggests concrete governmental and industry measures for creating a "dynamic data-agile economy" without sacrificing the privacy or personal data of consumers and businesses. That nuance is important, and often lost in global public debates about AI. Cutting-edge AI technology – pursued by Qualcomm through our R&D center in Amsterdam – will allow AI operations to take place on your device, to avoid sending your data to third parties in the cloud and keep it under your control. Privacy guarantees and construction of a technological and data-driven economy are not in a zero-sum equation.