The Centre Delàs, a member of ENAAT, launched today a new Working Paper in cooperation with ENAAT, GCOMS and the International Peace Bureau, which analyses the first R&D projects of the European Defence Fund (EDF), a crucial piece of the process of militarisation begun by the EU several years ago.
The EDF is set to greatly boost military spending in Europe, both through common & national budgets. By co-financing development projects & requiring member states to purchase resulting products, EU funding will have a multiplier effect, with total expenditure being 5 times higher.
“All projects analysed in this Working Paper can be regarded as fitting ill with the EU’s foundational principles and values. And the projects proposing the use of new deep-learning techniques in Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) are more concerning” conclude the authors.
EDF funded projects proposing the use of new deep-learning techniques in Artificial Intelligence #AI are concerning given their inherent proneness to error, ‘the Black Box Nature’ of A.I. and the need for ‘explicability’, and the lack of proper oversight in A.I.’s use.
Indra (Spain), Leonardo (Italy), Thales (France), are some of the companies receiving grants that have long histories of corruption, irregularities, and questionable practices. However, none of this has stopped the European Commission’s decision showering them with public funds.
For years the EU has chosen the path of militarisation with a dual purpose: to safeguard its economic & geopolitical interests, and to fortify itself against migratory flows.
Read the working paper ‘Analysis of the first R&D projects of the European Defence Fund‘, also available in Spanish and Catalan