Margrethe Vestager said she sees “no limit to how AI can support what we do as humans”, adding that human supervision will play a crucial role in regulating the technology. She also reiterated that she is not looking to break up Big Tech companies, arguing that doing so would not only be unnecessary from a competition standpoint, it could create more problems than it solves. (Business Insider)
Talking point: In Vestager’s vision for the EU, an optimistic approach to AI squares with the strict regulatory environment she’s become notorious for enforcing. The commissioner has said she will introduce ethical, human-centered AI regulations in Europe within the first 100 days of her new role as the bloc’s technology tsar. A proactive approach to regulating AI, she argued, is what will distinguish Europe’s policies from those in the U.S. and China. However, she also appears open to working with U.S. regulators; in a follow-up to her comments about breaking up tech giants, she said she would welcome an “enforcer role for the U.S.” Though she’s established a reputation for being among the most hawkish of Big Tech’s opponents, this stance is arguably less aggressive than that of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, for example, who has repeatedly called for breaking up the tech giants.