WASHINGTON: Friday saw the announcement of an agreement between the European Union and the United States to accelerate and expand the use of artificial intelligence to enhance emergency response, agriculture, healthcare, climate forecasting, and the electric grid.
Shortly before the official announcement, a senior US administration official discussed the initiative and referred to it as the first comprehensive AI agreement between the US and Europe. According to the official, prior agreements on the issue had been restricted to specific areas like improving privacy.
The term “AI modeling” refers to machine-learning algorithms that use data to make logical decisions and can be used to speed up and streamline government services.
The senior administration official stated, “The magic here is in building joint models while leaving data where it is.” We are able to construct a model that communicates with both European and American data because the more data and the more diverse the data, the better the model.”
According to the administration official, the initiative will provide governments with greater access to more detailed and data-rich AI models, resulting in more effective emergency responses and electric grid management among other benefits.
The official said, pointing to the electric grid, that the United States collects information about how electricity is used, where it is produced, and how to balance the load on the grid so that weather changes don’t shut it down.
According to the official, similar data points related to their own grids are collected by many European nations. All of that data would be incorporated into a single AI model as part of the new partnership, which would improve outcomes for emergency managers, grid operators, and others who rely on AI to improve systems.
At the moment, the partnership is only between the White House and the European Commission, which is the executive branch of the European Union’s 27 members. In the coming months, other nations will be invited to join, according to the senior administration official.
