Open Markets’ Europe director Max Von Thun appeared on a panel, “AI and the Monopoly Threat,” at the annual conference of private and data protection organization CPDP, held in Brussels on May 22nd-24th. Panel participants, who included AI Now Institute executive director Amba Kak and renowned competition policy expert Cristina Caffarra, spoke about how the concentration of power in AI risks not only undermining growth and innovation, but also threatens our privacy, freedom of expression, security and other crucial public interest objectives.

Description

With this panel, the Open Markets Institute aims to bring together two debates that have largely been kept separate so far: the promise and perils of AI, and the harms of monopoly power in the digital age. Today, a handful of tech giants are leveraging their existing dominance and co-opting potential rivals to seize control of artificial intelligence. This is entrenching their market power even further, while undermining our ability to create an open, inclusive and competitive digital sphere. This concentration of power in AI risks not only undermining growth and innovation, but also threatens our privacy, freedom of expression, security and other crucial public interest objectives. In addition to exploring these risks, the panel will discuss how competition policy and other tools can be used to rein in monopoly power in AI, and ensure the technology works towards the public interest. Topics speakers will discuss include:

• Is AI competitive or concentrated? If the latter, what is driving this concentration and how?

• What are the harms we should worry about, both today and in future, from concentration in AI?

• What role, if any, does AI regulation such as the EU’s AI Act have to play in promoting an open and diverse AI ecosystem?

• How can competition policy and related tools help us tackle monopoly power in AI?