European Commission's new president promises GDPR-style legislation on AI

Von der Leyen said that Europe "set the pattern for the world" the GDPR, and "we have to do the same with artificial intelligence"

Ursula von der Leyen, the new president of the European Commission , has pledged to introduce GDPR-style legislation to regulate artificial intelligence (AI).

In a speech to the European Parliament last week, Leyen promised that she would work to introduce legislation for a coordinated European approach on the "human and ethical" implications of AI.

"With the General Data Protection Regulation, we set the pattern for the world. We have to do the same with artificial intelligence. Because in Europe we start with the human being," Leyen said.

"It is not about damming up the flow of data. It is about making rules that define how to handle data responsibly. For us the protection of a person ' s digital identity is the overriding priority."

Leyen also vowed to explore new ways in which big data can be used to create wealth for business and societies. She said that she would make an effort to prioritise investment in AI, through the Multiannual Financial Framework as well as with the increased use of public-private partnerships.

On the subject of technological sovereignty, von der Leyen urged people and organisations to pool resources, money, research capacity and knowledge and to put that into practice.

Von der Leyen took control of the European Commission on 1^st December, replacing Jean Claude-Juncker. Last week, she and her commission were coronated in the European Parliament, winning 461 MEP votes in favour, compared to 157 against and 89 abstentions.

With that win von der Leyen - a former German Defence minister - became the first woman in the EU ' s history to lead the European Executive body.

The new GDPR-style legislation that von der Leyen has pledged to introduce is likely to be administered by Margrethe Vestager, who has taken tough action against Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook since becoming the EU Competition Commissioner in 2014.

In 2016, Vestager ordered Apple to pay €13 billion in unpaid taxes. Last year, she fined Google a record penalty of €4.34bn over claims of anti-competitive practices.

The fine of €4.34bn was based on Google's revenue from search and advertising services on Android devices, not just across the European Union, but also the European Economic Area.

Last month, Vestager also claimed that the EU had received a number of competition-related complaints over Apple Pay.