Making Europe a leader in AI: in conversation with Venki Ramakrishnan, Antoine Petit and Martin Stratmann

An online event organised by the Royal Society, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Max Planck Society took place on 7 October. It focussed on AI in Europe and considered topics such as European collaboration, trustworthy AI and the role of regulation.

Involved in the discussion were Venki Ramakrishnan, President of the Royal Society, Antoine Petit, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Martin Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society. We also heard from Marta Kwiatkowska (University of Oxford), Stéphane Mallat (Collège de France) and Nuria Oliver (Commissioner for AI Strategy and Data Science, Valencian Region, and also representing ELLIS).

You can watch the event in full below.

It was noted that Europe has been a leader in considering the social and ethical implications of AI. However, the participants were keen to stress that in order for Europe to compete with the USA and China, all European countries must continue to collaborate and work together to advance research. Key to unlocking Europe’s potential to become a leading research destination for AI will be the ability to attract talent.

Another point highlighted concerned the importance of links between academia and industry, with the general feeling being that there is much progress required in this area. AI will change the job market and careful management of the transition will be key. The participants also stressed the need for domain experts to be involved in AI development and deployment.

Lucy Smith , Managing Editor for AIhub.