What Will Brexit Mean for AI in the EU?

What Will Brexit Mean for AI in the EU?

By Daniel Castro and Michael McLaughlin

The European Union wants to be a leader in AI. As the European Commission’s coordinated plan on AI states, its ambition is to make Europe “the world-leading region for developing and deploying cutting-edge” AI. To meet this goal, the EU will need to compete with China and the United States in areas such as talent and research. However, anew report from the Center for Data Innovation shows the EU is already struggling to keep pace. And it will likely fall further behind once the UK, a pillar of the EU’s AI ecosystem, leaves the Union. Therefore, the EU needs a plan to stay competitive post-Brexit.

First, the EU should foster collaboration on AI with the UK. The UK accounts for nearly one-fifth of the AI researchersin the EU, it is second only to the Netherlands for quality of AI research papers, and nearly forty percent of the AI firms in the EU that have received at least $1 million in funding are based in the UK. Moreover, the UK has led the EU in collaborating with other nations on AI research since 1998, suggesting that many EU member states may soon lose a valuable research partner.

To mitigate this loss, the EU should establish joint calls for AI research proposals with the UK. Doing so is in the best interests of both the EU and UK, because they can leverage each other’s resources to develop AI technologies that advance their common economic and national security interests. In particular, the EU can leverage UK talent and facilities on joint AI projects to make progress towards achieving many of its missions, such as creating smart, climate-neutral cities and improving cancer treatment.

Second, the EU needs to ensure its students can pursue AI degrees in the UK. In 2018, the UK led all EU member states in training the elite AI researchers who present at academic conferences, highlighting the important role UK universities play in AI education. To maintain EU students’ access to UK universities, the EU should work with the UK to ensure students pursuing AI-related graduate degrees can easily obtain visas. This policy aligns with attitudes in the UK toward international students—75 percent of British adults want the number of international students in the UK to stay the same or increase.

Third, the EU should address its lagging position in AI by making key policy changes. This includes increasing the amount it has pledged to support the development of AI—currently  €1 billion a year between 2021-2027. The EU should also strive to attract more foreign talent and companies through a mix of matching funds at universities, visas, and tax incentives.

In addition, the EU should reform the GDPR to expand authorized uses of AI in the public interest, allow organizations to repurpose data that poses minimal risk, and not penalize automated decision-making. Lastly, the EU should create training programs for AI skills, in partnership with local universities and businesses, and encourage the development of off-the-shelf AI tools that do not require extensive knowledge for users to deploy.

Despite its goals to lead the world in AI, the EU has fallen behind both the United States and China—and will most likely fall further behind post-Brexit. If the EU fails to maintain close ties with the UK on AI development and does not make policy changes, the gap between the EU and its peers will only widen.

Daniel Castro is the Vice President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and Director of the Center for Data Innovation. Michael McLaughlin is a research analyst at ITIF.

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