![OpenAI (creator of ChatGPT) will invest $500bn [€422bn] over the next four years into AI infrastructure. For comparison, the EU Commission wants create €200bn in investment towards AI infrastructure](https://static.euobserver.com/2023/05/258406f96541ba09a95c130f68a18555.jpg)
Why is the EU struggling to scale artificial intelligence?
OpenAI spends more on AI than the whole EU. Europe is lagging in the innovation race — here’s why, and how it plans to catch up.
Digital
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Anger as US report on EU ‘censorship’ leaves commission, NGOs’ names unredacted
The recent US report on ‘EU censorship’ left dozens of names of civil society and EU officials unredacted in emails – while carefully hiding company employee names.
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Apple’s AI-notification exhibits racial and gender bias, researchers find
Researchers found Apple’s in-built AI system systematically exhibits forms of racial bias and gender stereotyping when summarising texts and emails, according to a report exclusively shared with EUobserver.
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EU Commission unveils new anti-drone plan including ‘no-fly’ zones
The European Commission announced its new drone action plan to counter malicious drones on Wednesday, with new measures to detect malicious flyers with 5G, protect critical infrastructure, and respond to threats.
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Brussels warns WhatsApp to stop blocking alternative AI services
The European Commission has warned US tech giant Meta that it intends to implement measures to prevent a policy change on WhatsApp that would prevent third-party AI assistance — a move the executive sees as a potential antitrust violation.
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Listen: Can a European social platform compete with X?
After Elon Musk’s X, could Europe finally build its own social media powerhouse? In this episode, Léa Marchal explores the “W” social media platform, Anna Zeiter’s bold alternative — its ambitions, challenges, and whether Europe can truly rival US tech giants.
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TikTok’s addictive design breaches the DSA, EU Commission finds
The European Commission preliminarily found TikTok in violation of the Digital Services Act on Friday, for breaching the EU’s addictive design rules — such as not adequately assessing addiction risk and implementing weak mitigation features
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Grok scandal prompts MEP move to ban non-consensual AI porn in new omnibus
A new draft report by Green MEP Sergey Lagodinsky aims to amend the AI Omnibus proposal to prohibit generative apps that can generate nonconsensual sensualised content.
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Revealed: How Big Tech is lobbying on forthcoming EU Digital Fairness Act
New research by the Brussels NGO Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) details an intense lobbying campaign by Big Tech to weaken the upcoming EU Digital Fairness Act — a proposal that aims to protect consumers from deceptive or addictive online features.
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US Republicans accuse the EU of ‘decade-long censorship campaign’
In a fresh effort to recast regulation as censorship, a new 160-page report from the US House Judiciary Committee alleges Brussels pressured Big Tech platforms to censor US speech, including around the 2024 presidential elections.
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German NGOs sue Elon Musk’s X again over election research data access
X (formerly Twitter) is being sued in Germany by NGOs over Digital Services Act obligations, for a second time. Researchers want access to platform data before the key Hungarian parliamentary election in April.
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Artists and songwriters need updated EU copyright law for AI, parliament committee says
A European Parliament legal committee approved on Wednesday a report on copyright protections and AI — calling for updated laws, transparency in AI training, and artist compensation.
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EU to specify Google’s AI-interoperability and data-sharing obligations
The European Commission opened two procedures to clarify for Google the bloc’s Digital Markets Act requirements for allowing alternative AI services to have the same access to Android as Google Gemini, and to explain Google’s search data-sharing obligations.
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Remind me: Why do EU politicians announce anything on social media?
Or maybe we should ask a harder question: what if the goal is not to actually communicate – but just to be seen trying?
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Brussels opens investigation into X over Grok’s sexualised deepfakes
The European Commission has opened an investigation into X due to risks from integrating its AI chatbot Grok directly into the platform — examining if Elon Musk’s social media platform complies with the risk assessment and mitigation requirements under the Digital Services Act.
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EU’s new telecom package sees ‘single passport’ across bloc for operators
The EU’s new the Digital Networks Act, announced on Wednesday, looks to update the bloc’s telecom regulation by revising spectrum licenses, voluntary cooperation mechanism for disputes between telecoms and Big Tech, and proposing 2035 fibre connectivity requirements.
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EU proposes phasing out high-risk foreign tech, targeting China
The European Commission announced its new cybersecurity package, which creates new ways to phase new high-risk technology from critical EU sectors, including a mandatory system for listing and restricting high-risk telecom and technology providers and countries, and a three-year deadline to phase out high risk 5G.
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EU should set up alternative social media platform to rival X, say MEPs
A group of more than 50 MEPs say it’s time for the EU to develop its own social media alternative to X, in response to the flood of sexualized deepfakes generated by Grok on X earlier this month.
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AI-driven digital manipulation ‘tested’ Dutch election integrity, researchers warn
There was intense digital interference during last year’s Dutch parliamentary elections, with generative AI political content playing an increasing role and producing vast engagement, according to the Dutch Hybrid Election Integrity Observatory.
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Changes to digital omnibus law align with Big Tech’s demands, report finds
A report by Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl found that many of the changes in the European Commission’s digital omnibus overlap with the desired changes from Big Tech companies and major tech lobbies.
