Erhvervsudvalget 2019-20
ERU Alm.del Bilag 327
Offentligt
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NOTAT
The Danish Government’s response to the public consultation
on the
white paper “On Artificial Intelligence –
A European approach to ex-
cellence and trust”
General comments
The Danish Government
welcomes the European Commission’s (Commis-
sion) white paper on artificial intelligence (AI) and supports the ambition
for a European approach to promote the development and uptake of AI in
a responsible and trustworthy manner. AI is one of the pivotal technologies
that can underpin the EU's competitiveness, prosperity, strategic autonomy
and climate-neutral transition as well as public administration and welfare.
Its vast potential has furthermore become evident by the current COVID-
19 crisis which has highlighted
the technology’s contribution to tackling
the pandemic. At the same time, the increasing application of AI and its
potential to solve the challenges of tomorrow has reinforced the important
objective of ensuring trustworthy, ethical, safe and secure application of
AI.
In certain situations, the usage of AI may involve serious risks to individ-
uals and society which must be addressed in a proportionate and risk-based
regulatory framework at the European level. A European framework must
be clear and operable in order to ensure trust among citizens and increase
the protection in society as well as ensuring legal certainty for business and
public authorities. The aim should be to pave the way towards a true Single
Market for AI, where developers and deployers of AI are able to innovate
and scale up across the EU.
AI will likewise be one of the key enablers for rebooting the European
economy after COVID-19. Therefore, a strengthened focus on fostering AI
ecosystems and capacities in the EU is needed in order to improve
Europe’s
future competitiveness and resilience as well as for achieving the objec-
tives set out in the European Green Deal. The EU must continue to strate-
gically build on its strengths and reduce its weaknesses in order to improve
its abilities to develop and deploy responsible, ethical, safe and secure AI,
thereby making this a trademark for the EU.
It is important to have in mind that certain usage of AI in sectors critical
for our society can involve risks of societal significance. Consequently, a
strengthened focus on fostering AI ecosystems and capacities in the EU
should also seek to reduce technological dependency on third country de-
liveries in key value chains and infrastructure of critical importance for our
 ERU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 327: Det danske høringssvar til Kommissionens meddelelse Om kunstig intelligens: En europæisk tilgang til ekspertise tillid (COM (2020) 65 final), samt overliggernotat herfor, fra erhvervsministeren
society and security, thereby strengthening
the EU’s autonomy
as well as
enabling the EU to define the European way on digitalisation.
The overarching aim must be to ensure that AI and the digital economy in
the EU is characterized by a high degree of trust, safety and security as
well as a strong competitiveness based on framework conditions which
promote innovation, are technology neutral and do not create unnecessary
burdens and barriers.
The Danish Government is looking forward to the further discussions and
work on the initiatives announced in the white paper and will form a posi-
tion on the specific legislative initiatives, as these are presented by the
Commission. It should be noted that the Danish Government finds it im-
portant that the coming discussions does not in any way prejudge the ne-
gotiations on the future Multiannual Financial Framework nor fail to re-
spect the common understandings on the Digital Europe Programme and
the Horizon Europe Programme reached between the European Parliament
and the Council.
Specific remarks to the different elements in the white paper can be found
in the attached document “Annex: Specific comments from the Danish
Government’s on the white paper on artificial intelligence”.
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