EU needs a system to respond to AI incidents, Finland and Estonia say

BRUSSELS—The European Union should have a plan to respond to serious artificial intelligence incidents, two EU countries said ahead of a key Friday meeting of national leaders focused on AI. In a letter seen by POLITICO, Finland and Estonia say the bloc “can still compete at the frontier” of AI by mobilizing capital and building up compute power, but this should go hand in hand with “governing it responsibly.” The two countries, considered among Europe’s digital leaders, call for “EU-level arrangements for responding to serious AI incidents.” AI safety and security are on Friday’s agenda of the first-ever European Council meeting devoted to the revolutionary new technology.

Concerns about whether Europe is prepared to respond to AI-powered threats have been picking up steam since a series of incidents this summer in which AI agents went rogue and hacked into other companies. Recent cyberattacks and revelations of coding vulnerabilities have also raised concerns that security systems must be better equipped for the arrival of artificial intelligence.