EU auditors take first look at Europe's AI shortfall

The EU’s budget watchdog will roll out its first audit looking at how the bloc’s funding is contributing to making Europe a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI), the auditors said on Monday.

The European Court of Auditors, based in the Kirchberg area of Luxembourg, examines whether money from the EU budget is being spent correctly and will for the first time assess whether enough is being done to prevent Europe from missing the boat on artificial intelligence.

Europe is lagging behind on certain aspects, such as financing, and the amount invested in AI within the EU is estimated to be half as much as the amount invested in the US, the ECA said in a press release.

“Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly bring many considerable benefits in a wide range of sectors,” said Mihails Kozlovs, the ECA member who will lead the audit. “And the stakes for EU competitiveness are too high to get it wrong."  

The bloc has allocated nearly €10 billion from its budgets between 2014 and 2027 to AI and at least 20% of the €724 billion available under the pandemic recovery fund will finance the bloc’s digital transition.

But still, fewer than one in 10 businesses in the EU were using AI in 2021, the ECA said. Denmark was the biggest user, with almost a quarter of businesses using the technology, while only 1% were using it in Romania, the auditors said.

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