Artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will soon impact almost every aspect of our lives and plays an increasingly important role in Research and Innovation (R&I). Science Europe believes that any future EU legislation on AI must account for the needs of the research sector.

Why does Artificial Intelligence matter?

AI forms the basis for all computer learning and can significantly improve the way that research is conducted, managed, and published.

Some Science Europe members are already heavily involved in AI developments. They run AI research programmes, fund AI research centres, and manage funding programmes on AI. Some even use it to perform core tasks.

What are the current priorities?

Any future EU legislation on Artificial intelligence will impact researchers and research organisations in many ways, as they are both developers and users of AI systems. AI legislation influences:

research on the development of AI systems;
the implementation and embedding of AI methods across all fields of research; and
the use of AI in research administration and governance, such as the use of AI to identify reviewers for assessment processes.

Artificial Intelligence is also strongly interlinked with Open Science. Researchers have an ever-increasing amount of research data and other digital objects at their disposal. Many researchers already use AI technologies for data analysis. Unbiased datasets and data protocols are needed for researchers to produce quality research. Any future EU legislation on AI therefore needs to complement Open Science policies.

What does research need?

Science Europe strives to ensure that the upcoming EU legislation on AI takes the needs of the research sector into account. The legislation must strike a right balance between providing necessary safety guarantees for both users and developers of AI systems, while creating a legal environment that allows researchers to experiment and develop new applications.