Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1732 amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 as regards a EuroHPC initiative for start-ups in order to boost European leadership in trustworthy artificial intelligence

Summary:

Regulation (EU) 2024/1732 - adopted by the Council of the European Union on 17 June 2024 - introducing amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 to boost the European Union's (EU) activities on trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI).

Further information:

Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 established the European High Performance (EuroHPC) Joint Undertaking for the period 2021-2027, its mission and objectives.

In her 2023 State of the European Union (SOTEU) address, the President of the European Commission announced a new initiative aimed at making the EU's supercomputing capacity available to innovative European startups in trustworthy AI to train their models. These models require substantial amounts of computing power to train and finetune the most advanced foundation models in order to unlock the full potential of AI, a requirement that can be met only with supercomputing. The EU's most powerful world-class supercomputing capacity is found in the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking's facilities, so they need to be made available for this initiative to become a reality.

This Council Regulation amends the legislative framework to introduce a further objective for the Joint Undertaking, which covers the contribution made by supercomputers for the development and operation of AI factories. 

The initiative was mentioned in the European Commission's 2024 Work Programme. A draft law was eventually adopted by the Commission on 24 January 2024 as part of a so-called AI innovation package. The plenary of the European Parliament provided its consent to the draft law on 24 April. The Council of the European Union reached a political agreement on the proposal's content on 23 May and formally adopted the Regulation on 17 June 2024. The Act was published in the Official Journal on 19 June 2024.

Official

EUR-LEX: COM(2024)29: Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 as regards an EuroHPC initiative for start-ups to boost European leadership in trustworthy Artificial Intelligence https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=COM:2024:29:FIN

European Parliament: Legislative Observatory: Procedure File for Proposal on EuroHPC initiative for start-ups to boost European leadership in trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (2024/0016(NLE)) https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?lang=en&reference=2024/0016(NLE)

General Secretariat of the Council (EU): Policies: Artificial intelligence https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/artificial-intelligence/

Official Website of the European Union's EuroHPC Joint Undertaking https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/index_en

European Commission: Press Release, 16/11/2023: Commission opens access to EU supercomputers to speed up artificial intelligence development https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_5739

European Commission: Press Release, 24/01/2024: Commission launches AI innovation package to support Artificial Intelligence startups and SMEs https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_383

EuroHPC: EuroHPC JU Access Call for AI and Data-Intensive Applications (5 March 2024) https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/eurohpc-ju-access-call-ai-and-data-intensive-applications_en

Council of the European Union: Press Release, 23/05/2024: AI: Council reaches political agreement on the use of super-computing for AI development https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/05/23/ai-council-reaches-political-agreement-on-the-use-of-super-computing-for-ai-development/

Council of the European Union: Press Release, 17/06/2024: Council adopts regulation on use of supercomputing in AI development https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/06/17/council-adopts-regulation-on-use-of-supercomputing-in-ai-development/

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News

EurActiv, 22/01/2024: EU Commission prepares ‘strategic framework’ to boost AI start-ups, generative AI uptake https://www.euractiv.com/section/artificial-intelligence/news/leak-eu-commission-prepares-strategic-framework-to-boost-ai-start-ups-generative-ai-uptake/

Euronews, 24/01/2024: Commission sets up AI office as sign-off on rulebook nears https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/01/24/commission-sets-up-ai-office-as-sign-off-on-rulebook-nears

Science Business, 25/01/2024: Commission proposes ‘artificial intelligence factories’ in bid to give start-ups access to supercomputers https://sciencebusiness.net/news/ai/commission-proposes-artificial-intelligence-factories-bid-give-start-ups-access

EurActiv, 20/03/2024: European Parliament committee votes new measures for AI factories https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/european-parliament-committee-votes-new-measures-for-ai-factories/

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Commentary and Analysis

The Economist, 21/05/2024: Supersize me. Europe wants startups to do AI with supercomputers https://www.economist.com/business/2024/03/21/europe-wants-startups-to-do-ai-with-supercomputers

Garrigues: Publications, 25/06/2024: European Union adopts new regulation to promote AI factories under the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking https://www.garrigues.com/pt/en_GB/new/european-union-adopts-new-regulation-promote-ai-factories-under-eurohpc-joint-undertaking

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European Commission: DG Communications Networks, Content & Technology: AI Factories https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/ai-factories

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