ITI Welcomes Focus on Simplification and Innovation in European AI Continent Action Plan, Calls for Open Approach
BRUSSELS – Global tech trade association the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) welcomed the European Commission’s newly released “AI Continent” Action Plan, an important step towards boosting Europe’s competitiveness in Artificial Intelligence.
“The EU needs a bold and ambitious strategy to remove obstacles to AI development and use in Europe, and today’s AI Continent Action Plan is a welcome start.” said ITI’s Policy Director, Marco Leto Barone. “To stay competitive in the AI race, the EU must embrace openness and enable a dynamic market that attracts investments from diverse players in the global value chain. An ambitious regulatory simplification strategy and an innovation friendly implementation of the AI Act and other applicable rules must be a fundamental part of this plan.”
The strategy’s commitment to regulatory simplification through a streamlined implementation of the AI Act and other relevant laws is crucial to bringing companies clearer and simpler rules to innovate with confidence, for example when it comes to accessing and using data for AI training or for putting AI models and systems on the EU market. This process will need ambition. ITI encourages the EU to launch an assessment of all EU rules applying to AI, including the AI Act and GDPR, to identify, streamline and simplify complexities and overlaps.