IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2022 - 95

social scientific history of European integration
claimed as a project of " peace and prosperity. " In
an interpretive policy analysis [64], we explore
how the relationship between ethical principles
( " peace " ) and economic rationalities ( " prosperity " )
is depicted in the draft Act and discuss what such
depiction reveals and hides about the wider context
of the EU's regulation of AITs. We draw on colonial
political economy accounts of capitalism [9] and
European integration [33] to qualify the potential of
the self-declared " normative power Europe " to lead
the way to more equitable AI development and use
through its regulatory powers.
Our argument runs in three steps:
*
First, we depict the EU Commission's narrative
on the AI Act in more depth, drawing on our own
interpretive policy analysis of official documents.
* Second, we situate the Commission's " trustworthy
and human-centered AI " narrative in wider
explanations of European integration and market-making
and show how AIT regulation reiterates
the EU's peace and prosperity myth for the
digital age.
Third, we problematize the notion of an AIT common
market that fosters prosperity in ethical ways.
Instead, we locate this project as a late addition to
long-running mythmaking around European integration
that disguises its colonial political economy,
including for AI, and from which we identify
four lines of inquiry that should orient our assessment
of current and future regulatory efforts.
Note that we decided to include quite a large
variety of references for a short reflection paper to
allow our readers to deepen the several-so far separate
but deeply interconnected-discussions on the
regulation of AITs, EU common market-making, and
colonial political economy.
*
EU's narrative of " cutting-edge, yet
trustworthy " AI made in Europe
The development of " cutting-edge, yet trustworthy "
AI in the EU was identified as a key priority for
the EU in late 2019 [24], alongside the European
Green Deal and managing the knock-on effects of
the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Importantly, this level
of priority also included the development of a regulatory
approach from scratch. The Commission's
AI policies include a strategy paper and a coordinated
plan in 2018, the establishment of a AI High
May/June 2022
Level Expert Group (AIHLEG) in 2018, a Commission
White Paper in 2020 which draws on the publication
of the AIHLEG's policy and investment recommendations
and ethics guidelines in 2019, and eventually
a proposal for regulation in 2021.
The bottom line for EU regulation of AITs has
been neatly summarized as " we want AI, but we
do not want any AI " (foreword by Fredrik Heintz
in [39]). Shortly after taking office on December 1,
2019, the EU Commission's new President Ursula von
der Leyen promised to develop the, worldwide, first
set of binding rules for " trustworthy " development
and application of AIT systems in the first 100 days in
office. In that context, von der Leyen reiterated the
goal of " reaping the benefits of technology and making
it work for people " [24], an ambition that was
already expressed in the EU Commission's AI strategy
in 2018 as follows: " the EU can lead the way in
developing and using AI for good and for all, building
on its values and its strengths " [23].
Indeed, similar formulations of regulatory goals
have already surfaced in the context of the 2018
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which
is seen as a " major step for building trust " in the
development of new technologies and is cherished,
by the Commission, as a key example for how " the
EU's sustainable approach to technologies creates
a competitive edge, by embracing change on the
basis of the Union's values " [23]. Amidst this focus
on enhancing the competitiveness of the Union on
all things AI, the Commission's strategy highlighted
its wish to " ensure " that AIT design, development,
and use should respect " ethical principles " and " fundamental
rights " :
" ...some AI applications may raise new ethical and
legal questions, for example related to liability or
potentially biased decision-making. The EU must
therefore ensure that AI is developed and applied
in an appropriate framework which promotes innovation
and respects the Union's values and fundamental
rights as well as ethical principles such as
accountability and transparency. The EU is also
well placed to lead this debate on the global stage.
This is how the EU can make a difference - and be
the champion of an approach to AI that benefits
people and society as a whole " [23]
This cursory summary of the EU's own reasoning
highlights twofold regulatory goals. On the one
hand, the Commission wants to mitigate AIT-related
95

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