Tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet have announced heavy investments into the AI landscapes of France and Germany this week.
Microsoft is reportedly set to invest €3.2bn in building up its AI infrastructure and cloud capacity in Germany by the end of the next year. The investment is expected to cover the training of some 1.2m German workers, along with the building of data centres around the city of Frankfurt and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, said: “We want to enable the German economy to benefit from AI in order to continue to expand its global leadership in competitiveness. We are seeing increasing demand for AI applications in key industries such as manufacturing, automotive, financial services, pharmaceuticals, life sciences and medical devices.”
He added: “Because these industries are fundamentally changing as a result of economic change, it is important to equip companies in Germany with world-leading technology.”
For its part, Alphabet – the parent company of Google – has launched a new AI hub in Paris that will have more than 300 Google researchers and engineers. The new project was opened last week by French finance minister Bruno Le Maire. It is understood the researchers and engineers, previously scattered throughout various offices in the French capital, will now be assembled under one roof.
Notable developments
These are notable developments, given a prediction last year that AI investment in Europe might fall by 20% following the EC’s proposed Artificial Intelligence Act. That was made in a report from the Center for Data Innovation (CDI).
According to Dr Benjamin Mueller, senior policy analyst at the CDI and the author of How Much Will the Artificial Intelligent Act Cost Europe?, the proposed legislation would come at “a steep price” given the strenuous demands it places on “high-risk” AI. Overall, Mueller said the AI Act would cost more than €10bn per year by 2025.
Now, however, the thinking runs that Microsoft and Alphabet are investing heavily to stay ahead of the regulation headwinds. Writes Computer World: “This week, two groups of lawmakers in the European Parliament ratified a provisional agreement as a step toward an April vote on landmark legislation that would create the world’s first AI regulations.
“The proposed EU AI Act would ban the use of AI to create ‘unacceptable risk’, including cognitive behavioural manipulation of people or classifying people based on behaviour, socio-economic status or other personal characteristics.”
