Germany Plans To Double AI Funding In Race With China, US 16
Germany plans to almost double its public funding for artificial intelligence research to nearly a billion euros over the next two years, as it attempts to close a skills gap with sector leaders China and the United States. Reuters reports: The target, announced by research minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger on Wednesday, is modest compared with the $3.3 billion that the U.S. government spent on AI research in 2022 according to a Stanford University report. The AI push comes as Germany attempts to turn around its economy from a recession while the country's key autos and chemicals industries face stiff competition from upstart electric-vehicle makers and high energy costs.
Germany envisages creating 150 new university labs for AI research, expanding data centres and making accessible the kind of complex public data sets from which AI techniques can tease out new insights: a major undertaking in a country where cash transactions are common and the fax is not yet extinct. It is dwarfed by private AI spending in the U.S., which reached $47.4 billion in 2022, almost double Europe's total spend, and well ahead of China's $13.4 billion, the Stanford report found.
But Stark-Watzinger said that Europe's emerging regulatory framework, which places greater weight on privacy and personal safety than those in other regions, could attract players to Germany, as could cooperation within the European Union. "We have AI that is explainable, trustworthy and transparent," she said. "That's a competitive advantage." Simpler regulations would promote private research spending, she added.
Germany envisages creating 150 new university labs for AI research, expanding data centres and making accessible the kind of complex public data sets from which AI techniques can tease out new insights: a major undertaking in a country where cash transactions are common and the fax is not yet extinct. It is dwarfed by private AI spending in the U.S., which reached $47.4 billion in 2022, almost double Europe's total spend, and well ahead of China's $13.4 billion, the Stanford report found.
But Stark-Watzinger said that Europe's emerging regulatory framework, which places greater weight on privacy and personal safety than those in other regions, could attract players to Germany, as could cooperation within the European Union. "We have AI that is explainable, trustworthy and transparent," she said. "That's a competitive advantage." Simpler regulations would promote private research spending, she added.
Dumb politicians (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
All they know is throwing money at a problem when what is really needed is a lighter control on access to data.
Complete nonsense. There's tons of AI applications that don't require personal data.
the EU which treats privacy as an absolute goal,
That's just false to facts. The GDPR (EU's data privacy law) has explicit exemptions and a huge backdoor named "consent".
AI researchers are fleeing for more lightly regulated countries like the US
That has nothing to do with regulations. The US has the tech industry giants, who pay salaries far beyond what european companies pay, and it has private universities who pay salaries far beyond what european universities pay.
As long as you are young, healthy, covered by a corporate health package and earn
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As long as you are young, healthy, covered by a corporate health package and earning well, the US is a great place to be. Plenty of my IT friends have considered moving to the US. As soon as they have kids and think more long-term, that thought has disappeared in each and every one of them. Europe still has the higher standard of living for families.
Europe is subsidizing families and many other things, at the cost of market freedom. EU doesn't have free market. That is why that "higher standard of living for families" comes at the cost of the economic development. For the record, I am a European living in the US for the last 26 years. I am at the end of my career and plan to retire in 2028, at which point I will return to Croatia, because it's significantly cheaper than the US. Once I am no longer able to work and make money, I will gladly take advanta
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Europe is subsidizing families and many other things, at the cost of market freedom. EU doesn't have free market.
Ah yes, the usual drivel. We're also all communists over here, an atheistic satanists.
The problem with socialism
Yepp, called it.
it doesn't work. Never has, never will.
I'm from Germany. Don't live there anymore, but spent most of my life there. Germany had "soziale Marktwirtschaft", this blend of functioning social systems with market economy. And the best time of that was also the time of fastest growth and strongest economy. Weird. Once they started cutting into the social systems, the economy went downhill.
Turns out, people who don't live paycheck to paycheck and can a
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Germany is the greatest country in the world, ever. Just ask any German.
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That is the answer you've got?
Man, I left that place for a ton of reasons. I'm happy I grew up there, wouldn't want to grow up there today.
And if someone from the US, which celebrates itself constantly as the greatest place on Earth, tries to paint that hyper-patriotism on any other nation, that's just ridiculous.
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However, my US citizenship will still provide significant advantages, like the ability to maintain an American bank account.
Care to explain American bank account Is better? especially considering that you gotta pay taxes as a citizen regardless of where you live.
Also, what are the other benefits?
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Gladly. Croatia has a public health system which, left to its own, is not very good. However, when supplemented by the private clinics, the outcomes are pretty decent. Also, consumer goods are heavily subsidized, to avoid riots. You see, Croatia is "transition" economy and they are usually rather poor. As for taxes, since Croatia is, on average, cheaper than the US, my social security for more than 30 years of 6-figures salary will go a long way. I don't need to pay taxes or even to file them, if my only in
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All they know is throwing money at a problem when what is really needed is a lighter control on access to data.
Complete nonsense. There's tons of AI applications that don't require personal data.
You clearly are not working on relevant AI topics and have no idea what is really going on. When even an IP address (which is not sufficient to trace a copyright violator) makes a data point personal data, very little is left that is not covered by data privacy regulations. What counts is the interpretation of the law by judges, and the valid jurisprudence does indeed make such nonsense binding.
the EU which treats privacy as an absolute goal,
That's just false to facts. The GDPR (EU's data privacy law) has explicit exemptions and a huge backdoor named "consent".
Again, you are talking about things you do not understand. Did you ever try to sit down with a data protection off
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That's what corporations always tell you. Any regulation, any taxation, it will destroy your economy and make you poor. They HAVE to be allowed to steal all your data, pollute your home, and contribute nothing in return, or bad things will happen to you!
small numbers (Score:2)
Why not spend tenfold? After all 10 * 0 = 0, just as 2 * 0 = 0
Why EU AI will fail miserably (Score:2)
"Plans", like their Net Zero target? (Score:2)
Germany plans to almost double its public funding for artificial intelligence research to nearly a billion euros over the next two years
In other news, "Germany Set To Miss Net Zero By 2045 Target" [slashdot.org].
When things get tough, Germany postpone their targets. Empty plans are just that, empty.
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In this case, empty "plans" are good to miss. Make empty plans to assuage the lunatics from burning the place down, then just ignore the plans.
Deindustrialization (Score:2)