Is the EU overdoing it with its AI rules?

“Why are we seeing Waymo in San Francisco and not in Berlin?” asks Uldis Tatarcuks, CEO of Latvia's largest telecoms provider Tet, on the Atrium Stage of the Smart Country Convention. Waymo is a company in California, USA, that has developed the world's first autonomous driving service. Tet is “like Deutsche Telekom, only not as big, but much faster”, says Tatarcuks confidently.

The first 5G military test field is in Latvia

Latvia is in fact one of the most digitalized countries in Europe, and Tet is laying the foundations for this as a network provider. In addition to the network, the company provides voice services, devices and cybersecurity solutions, among other things, thus supporting the digital strategy that makes the country a pioneer: 84% of Latvian internet users access e-government services and digital IDs. In the construction sector, all administrative steps have been digitized. Latvia has also launched the first 5G military test field in Europe, enabling its own military and NATO allies to research and develop military applications of 5G. A maritime 5G test field has also been anchored in the Baltic Sea to develop seamless connectivity and autonomous shipping, among other things.

At the same time, Latvia ranks fifth in the global Cyber Security Index, emphasized Tatarcuks. “Cyber security is immensely important; our data connections are attacked every day.” The number of cyber-attacks increased by 32 percent last year. The attackers are becoming “smarter and bigger, and they use the same technology as we do”. In this race, quantum computing and a cyber shield are “the next topics on our agenda”.

Quantum technology: “We need to build up our defenses”

“Security is absolutely crucial these days,” said Tatarcuks. In the case of quantum technology, he said, we can see how it is picking up speed in China. “This is coming at us at a really fast pace, we need to build up our defenses.”

Tatarcuks used several civilian examples to illustrate that Europe has the technical capabilities to make great leaps in the application of artificial intelligence. At the same time, he raised the question of whether Brussels was standing on the brakes too much. “It's great to have an AI law in Europe,” he conceded - partly because it enables systematic risk management. In Latvia, however, there is currently a heated debate as to “whether we are not over-regulating ourselves” and how negative effects of EU regulations could be legally circumvented. So why is Waymo located in San Francisco and not in Berlin? Tatarcuks left the question unanswered.