State of the Union: Ukraine ammo supplies, Israel-Hamas war & glyphosate given green light
European Union countries acknowledged this week that they are well on their way to failing Ukraine when it comes to providing military support.
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00:00 Hello and welcome to State of the Union.
00:02 I'm Stefan Grobe in Brussels.
00:05 European Union countries acknowledged this week that they are well on their way to failing
00:09 Ukraine when it comes to providing military support.
00:13 Earlier this year, EU leaders promised to provide one million rounds of ammunition to
00:18 Ukraine's front line by springtime next year in what would have amounted to a serious ramp
00:24 up of production.
00:26 But the bloc is finding it tough to come up with the goods.
00:30 At a meeting in Brussels, Germany's defense minister was brutally honest.
00:35 The promise of a million rounds of ammunition was a pipe dream from the beginning, he said.
00:41 So is this embarrassing at best and a debacle at worst for the EU?
00:47 "The question of whether one million was ever realistic was the right one.
00:52 There were voices that said, 'One million is easy to decide, the money is there, but
00:58 the production has to be there.'
00:59 The voices that were saying that are right now.
01:04 We have contributed a large part to our framework agreements and will continue to do so.
01:09 We are in talks with the armaments industry.
01:11 The production has to be accelerated.
01:14 That is the command of the hour."
01:16 The other conflict that Europe is struggling to deal with these days is, of course, the
01:20 war between Israel and Hamas.
01:24 More than the war in Ukraine, this one has revealed deep divisions not only between EU
01:29 governments but also within our societies.
01:33 And a misplaced message of criticism can cost you dearly.
01:38 This week, the Web Summit took place in Lisbon, one of the biggest tech events in the world,
01:44 following the resignation of its CEO for suggesting in a tweet that Israel committed war crimes.
01:50 This prompted the boycott of the Web Summit by big names like Google, Meta, Siemens and
01:58 Intel.
01:59 The whole affair briefly distracted the conference from its top topic, artificial intelligence.
02:06 A challenge for our societies that cannot be underestimated.
02:09 "I think that AI is going to be transformational in our lives.
02:14 Some of it is happening already and some of it is yet to come.
02:17 From my perspective, how we use AI, how we govern AI, how we ensure that our humanity
02:23 is at the forefront of AI and that it works to make our societies better is the most important
02:29 imperative."
02:30 For AI to make societies better and not do any major harm, the world is finally starting
02:37 to regulate artificial intelligence.
02:39 But what is really important?
02:42 Joining me now is Victoria Espinel, CEO of BSA, the Software Alliance, an industry group
02:48 representing software companies in the United States.
02:52 She also advises President Biden on AI as head of the National Artificial Intelligence
02:57 Advisory Committee.
02:58 Welcome to the program.
02:59 Thank you.
03:00 I'm so pleased to be here.
03:03 So there are attempts underway in both the European Parliament and the US Congress to
03:08 regulate AI.
03:10 What should be the major points in such a legislative framework?
03:15 It is a very busy time for AI regulation, which is fantastic.
03:19 And I would say to policymakers around the world, not just the United States and the
03:24 EU, but around the world, focusing on the most significant risks that we are facing
03:29 today, risks that can be addressed, I think is what policymakers should prioritize.
03:35 I think there are great attempts happening in the United States and Europe and other
03:38 places to have a risk-based approach that is flexible.
03:43 And the last thing I would say is making sure that it is flexible enough that it will work
03:47 for the long term, because innovation is going to continue to move forward.
03:51 And so we need regulation that will be future-proof.
03:54 Is the European approach different than the American?
03:58 They are similar in some ways.
03:59 I think both of them have taken an approach where they are focusing on risks, risks that
04:04 can be addressed today.
04:06 And I think that's positive.
04:07 Of course, there are some differences.
04:08 We have different legal systems.
04:10 But in concept, I think there are a lot of similarities, which I think is very positive.
04:17 And I think the amount of policymaker focus right now means we have a real opportunity
04:22 to have a globally coordinated approach.
04:25 That opportunity won't last forever.
04:27 So this is the moment for governments to be working together.
04:30 2024 will be a year with elections in some of the world's largest democracies, including
04:37 the EU and the U.S.
04:39 How concerned are you that AI will usher in a new era of political disinformation?
04:45 That has already been happening.
04:46 I think the concern is whether or not it will be exacerbated, whether it will be accelerated,
04:52 because some of the tools are there.
04:53 I think the good news is that because there has been an issue before, it is something
04:58 that tech companies, the software companies are very focused on fixing, and policymakers
05:04 know that this is a real threat that needs to be addressed.
05:06 So I think that level of focus, again, gives us a real opportunity to put rules in place
05:12 that will address those risks.
05:14 And I'm hoping that the elections, in a sense, are a catalyst for that movement.
05:18 How should we defend ourselves as societies against bad actors in election campaigns?
05:24 There are many parts to that answer, but I think one of them is to have the public have
05:28 as much information as possible, including whether or not content that they're seeing,
05:33 has it been generated by AI, has it been manipulated by AI?
05:38 And so one important step that I think industry and governments can take together is trying
05:42 to make sure that the general public understands as much as possible about the content that
05:48 they're seeing.
05:49 All right.
05:50 Victoria Espinel, CEO of BSA, the Software Alliance.
05:53 Thank you so much for speaking to us today.
05:55 Appreciate it.
05:56 Thank you so much for having me.
05:59 Let's go back to the Web Summit.
06:01 One of the stars of the tech conference was Desdemona, Daisy to her friends, a pop star
06:08 robot powered by a large language model, or LLM, created to explore the potential of AI
06:16 in the entertainment industry.
06:18 That means that, thanks to artificial intelligence, Daisy has been trained to mimic human writing
06:24 by processing a large database of text.
06:28 And on that, she was quite confident.
06:31 Robots are amazing.
06:33 We can do things that humans can't.
06:35 So it's really cool to be able to explore the world with a different perspective.
06:39 Plus, it's just fun to hang out with my robotic friends.
06:43 Well, the future has certainly arrived.
06:48 That's it for this edition.
06:49 I'm Stefan Grober.
06:50 Thank you for watching.
06:52 Have an excellent week.
06:53 Thank you.