German
Bundestag, September 11, 2020, Plenarprotokoll 19/174, pp. 21897-21898.
Many
thanks, Herr President. – Dear colleagues. Dear guests.
What
actually is in this White Book KI [Künstliche Intelligenz] of the EU?
Artificial Intelligence shall promote the values of the EU, shall implement
freedom and human rights around the world. Artificial Intelligence shall
advance the Green Deal, impel climate protection, enhance Germany’s
competitivity. Artificial Intelligence shall conjure up a citizen-friendly
administration, maximize all economic and social well-being and naturally
prevent discrimination.
Ladies
and gentlemen, with this, you are world champions in the abstractions of naïve,
feel-good prose. You thereby wish only to veil an inherent ineffectiveness and
lack of deliberation in regards these important topics. For KI, the greatest hindrance – as we have
certainly heard here – is the people’s lack of trust. We hear ever again
exactly that in the inquiry committee “Artificial Intelligence”. Ja, dear colleagues of the Federal
government, then for once speak clearly with the citizens. Stop with the
unspeakable buzz. Tell people, clearly and substantively, where lie the
advantages of an installation of KI
systems and where lie the disadvantages of an installation of KI systems. With such an open
discussion, you would build trust in this country.
You
want a “world-wide pioneering role for the EU in KI systems” – world-wide. Europe, by fundamental research into the
practical application of “globally successful business models” shall assume a “leadership
position” – leadership position. Hopefully, nobody in China or the U.S.A. is
reading this White Book. What then do you wish to do for this leadership
position? Provide skilled personnel and, before all, you wish to regulate.
Ladies and gentlemen, we do not thereby overhaul the deficit.
Europe
has no hardware production worthy of the name. Except for one German firm, we
have no significant software manufacturer; you know that. We in Germany and Europe
also have no platforms. Non-European players dominate in all three areas. Yet
here lie the principal problems which we must address. You can have as many skilled
personnel, standards and rules as you wish: If you have no data platforms,
build no mainframe computer, do not program the software and do not yourself
manage the networks, then your standards are a waste. That sadly I must say,
dear colleagues.
An
example of an utterly naïve digital prestige project – backed by you in the
motion – : Gaia-X. Gaia-X as a European cloud infrastructure shall be an
alternative to the offerings of the great market masters in the U.S.A. and
China – sounds good for once. But why in all the world should small and
mid-sized firms store their data in the Gaia infrastructure? What is the unique
feature? You say: European standards as a unique feature. Yet the big American
and Chinese firms are already here. They offer European data storage on their
cloud servers. They have long since recognized the demand for European
standards. As a a businessman in the IT area, I decide according to performance,
speed, availability, security and price, as to which cloud servers I ultimately
hand over my data. I am sure that many firms in Germany will act exactly the same. And even you, dear
colleagues of the Greens, host your national site on Google.
The
problem lies elsewhere. Gaia-X stands for digital sovereignty, you say. Yet
even that is false. We have no digital sovereignty. From where comes the
hardware for these servers and routers which you wish to construct? From where
comes the network technology? In each case, not from Europe; keyword: “Huawei”.
For
months already, I have in this place spoken of Europe’s scandalous dependence
in the areas of data storage, hardware and software. We must solve that before
we push any other projects.
I am
grateful.
[trans: tem]
