US-EU Data Sharing Partnership for AI Is a Welcome Step Forward, Says Center for Data Innovation

WASHINGTON— In response to the announcement today that the White House and the European Commission have signed a joint agreement to further research on artificial intelligence (AI), Daniel Castro, director of the Center for Data Innovation, issued the following statement:

Both the United States and the European Union need more data to build successful AI models. Given growing opportunities to use AI to improve healthcare, address climate change, and build more resilient electric grids, creating more data-sharing partnerships like this one should be a priority for the Biden administration. Today’s announcement recognizes that cooperation among allies is an essential ingredient for competitiveness in AI. Stronger transatlantic R&D partnerships are necessary to provide a counterweight to China’s ambitions with this technology. However, both sides remain reluctant to allow their data to leave their borders despite recently announcing a new European Union-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. To ensure maximum benefit from future datasets for training machine learning algorithms, both sides should work toward creating a data-sharing framework that allows data to flow across borders.