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Published (non-binding, current)Non-binding · Strategy / action plan

Artificial Intelligence for Europe

Record EU-21 · COM(2018) 237 final

Issued by
European Commission
Jurisdiction
European Union
Level · region
Supranational · Europe
Published / adopted
2018-04-25
Language
English
Official identifier
COM(2018) 237 final

Summary

European Commission strategy for an EU initiative on AI in three parts: boosting the EU's technological and industrial capacity and AI uptake, aiming at public and private AI investment of at least EUR 20 billion by the end of 2020; preparing for socioeconomic changes; and ensuring an appropriate ethical and legal framework. Under that framework the Commission undertook to have draft AI ethics guidelines developed with stakeholders by the end of 2018, to issue guidance on the Product Liability Directive and a report on the liability and safety frameworks for AI, the Internet of Things and robotics by mid-2019, and to support research on explainable AI.

Safety topics

accountability & liabilitytransparency & labellingresearch prioritiesinternational cooperation

Scope

Borderline scope Mainly an AI investment and uptake strategy with an ethical and legal framework as one of three parts; existing scope_note kept.

Status notes

Accompanied by a Commission staff working document on liability, SWD(2018) 137. The communication builds on the declaration of cooperation on AI signed on 10 April 2018 by 24 Member States and Norway, encourages every Member State to have an AI strategy, and announced a coordinated plan on AI with Member States by the end of 2018 and a European AI Alliance by July 2018. As a first step the Commission raised AI investment under Horizon 2020 to around EUR 1.5 billion for 2018-2020. It names safety and liability, security (criminal use or attacks), bias and discrimination among the risks of AI, says consumers should know whether they are communicating with a machine or another human, and says the Commission will review existing legal frameworks if necessary.

Sources

Open the official source https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/communication-artificial-intelligence-europe

Secondary source: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8507-2018-INIT/en/pdf

Local copy

Archived. A linked PDF could not be downloaded (https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/node/3071/printable/pdf: The site's robots.txt does not allow automated downloads of this page). Last attempt 2026-10-17 18:18:46 UTC

Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/EU-21/2026-10-17/official.html
Retrieved 2026-10-17 18:18:54 UTC
SHA-256 f5413b11eb50ddaa853e6f25f5bacebfdffe516653345090b44c04b7a3fa74ed
Secondary source (third-party copy, not published) archive/EU-21/2026-10-17/secondary.pdf
Retrieved 2026-10-17 18:18:55 UTC
SHA-256 696047d4478497a298b5470318314021e161c771e25d277e0f4df00bc2b761b6

Verification

A
The instrument's own official text, or an official register, was stored and confirms the title, date and status. checked 2026-10-17 · official-url-fetched
Stored and read for this record: the Commission's library page on digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu (HTML and printable PDF, about 1,700 characters), which gives the title, the addressees and publication on 25 April 2018 and links to the text on EUR-Lex. Stored in this run: the communication's full text, COM(2018) 237 final, in the Council register copy (document 8507/18, cover note of 30 April 2018, 21 pages), proposed as secondary_url, and on EUR-Lex (document 52018DC0237); they give the title, the number, 'Brussels, 25.4.2018' and the content, against which the summary and notes were checked. No stored source says the communication was withdrawn or replaced.
Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-17: 8 field(s) supported, fixes applied to scope_note.

History

  1. 2026-10-17scope_note: Mainly a strategy for AI investment, research and uptake, with an ethical and le → Mainly an AI investment and uptake strategy with an ethical and legal framework — pipeline run 2026-10-17-recheck-europe-1 (recheck), candidate EU-212026-10-17-recheck-europe-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  2. 2026-10-17secondary_url: – → https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8507-2018-INIT/en/pdf — the Council register copy of COM(2018) 237 final (document 8507/18, cover note of 30 April 2018), the communication's full text on an official host, stored in this run; the record had no secondary_url, and its official_url is a short library page, so after a merge its local copy would hold no text of the instrument2026-10-17-recheck-europe-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  3. 2026-10-16Added to the register — found in pipeline run 2026-10-16-discover-leads-2018, candidate C001 (EU/executive)2026-10-16-discover-leads-2018 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

HLEG Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI European Union · Published (non-binding, current)

Citation

European Commission. Artificial Intelligence for Europe [COM(2018) 237 final]. 2018-04-25. https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/communication-artificial-intelligence-europe. Status: Published (non-binding, current); verified 2026-10-17 (level A). Local copy archive/EU-21/2026-10-17/official.html retrieved 2026-10-17 18:18:54 UTC, SHA-256 f5413b11eb50ddaa853e6f25f5bacebfdffe516653345090b44c04b7a3fa74ed. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record EU-21.

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