BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Companies working with artificial intelligence need to install accountability mechanisms to prevent it being misused, the European Commission said on Monday, under new ethical guidelines for a technology open to abuse by authoritarian regimes.

The Commission is proposing a three-pronged approach to increase public and private investment in AI, prepare for socio-economic changes, and ensure an appropriate ethical and legal framework. This follows European leaders' call for a European approach on AI. The EU (public and private sectors) should increase investments in AI research and innovation by at least EUR 20 billion between 2018 and the end of 2020, according to the Commission's official press release. To support these efforts, the Commission is increasing its investment to EUR 1.5 billion for the period 2018-2020 under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. This investment is expected to trigger an additional EUR 2.5 billion of funding from existing public-private partnerships, for example on big data and robotics.