Strengthening Transatlantic Partnership in Artificial Intelligence for Defense Purposes
The Center for Data Innovation is hosting a video webinar on March 23, 2021, at 3:00-4:00 PM CET / 10:00-11:00 AM EDT, to discuss the transatlantic opportunities and challenges in promoting better cooperation in the military use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The webinar, scheduled to take place at 3:00 PM CET, will be moderated by Hodan Omaar, Policy Analyst at the Center for Data Innovation.
The discussion will feature several experts, including Christie Lawrence, Co-author of Harvard Belfer Center's "The Case for Increased Transatlantic Cooperation on AI" and Director of Research & Analysis at National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), Ulrike Franke, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Raluca Csernatoni, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe and guest professor at the Institute for European Studies at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), and Joanna van der Merwe, Fellow at the Defense Tech Initiative at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).
The divergent approaches to AI adoption in defense by the U.S. and the EU could lead to several potential impacts, including technological gaps, regulatory friction, and geopolitical tensions, but also opportunities for mutual benefit through cooperation and harmonization.
One of the significant differences lies in the technological and capability gaps. The U.S. is aggressively integrating advanced AI into defense through rapid deployment and commercial partnerships, while Europe lags behind in AI arms race readiness and commercial adoption. This gap risks a divergence in military AI capabilities and influence.
Another area of concern is regulatory and ethical tensions. The U.S. focuses on rapid AI deployment with deregulation to maintain technological leadership, while the EU emphasizes ethical considerations and cautious regulatory frameworks. This could cause operational and strategic mismatches in joint missions, complicating interoperability and trust between allies.
The webinar will also address the trade and strategic alignment frictions, as the U.S. has adopted a more assertive AI export strategy, potentially triggering retaliatory actions or trade disputes impacting AI supply chains.
To mitigate these risks and promote mutual benefits, several strategies have been proposed, such as promoting interoperability frameworks, establishing plurilateral coalitions, enhancing transparency and information sharing, investing in joint AI R&D and innovation programs, harmonizing ethical and regulatory oversight, and strengthening cooperation among U.S., EU, and allies while encouraging innovation.
The EU is pursuing a human-centered approach to AI adoption in defense and has recently resolved to ban "human-out-of-the-loop" autonomous weapons systems.
For updates related to the webinar, follow @DataInnovation. Don't miss this opportunity to gain insights into the transatlantic opportunities and challenges in promoting better cooperation in military use of AI.
- The upcoming webinar hosted by the Center for Data Innovation on March 23, 2021, will delve into the transatlantic opportunities and challenges of promoting better cooperation in the military use of artificial intelligence (AI), featuring experts such as Christie Lawrence and Ulrike Franke.
- One of the key areas the webinar will explore is the divergent approaches to AI adoption in defense by the U.S. and the EU, which could result in technological gaps, regulatory friction, and geopolitical tensions, but also opportunities for collaboration.
- Another topic of discussion will be the regulatory and ethical tensions between the U.S. and EU, with the U.S. favoring rapid AI deployment and deregulation versus the EU's emphasis on ethical considerations and caution in regulatory frameworks.
- To mitigate risks and promote mutual benefits, the webinar will address strategies such as enhancing interoperability, establishing coalitions, investing in joint AI R&D and innovation programs, harmonizing ethical and regulatory oversight, and strengthening cooperation among U.S., EU, and allies while encouraging innovation.
