The European Commission on Thursday failed to confirm how it would tackle any conflicts of interest on the part of its new AI envoy who is – simultaneously – chairman for German industrial giant Siemens.

On Wednesday, the EU’s executive created a new position of “special envoy for industrial AI” – with a direct reporting line to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – who will advise on maximising the tech’s potential across the Union.

The Commission also immediately appointed Jim Hagemann Snabe, chairman of Siemens, to the newly created role. This raised eyebrows, not least given the company’s recent activity lobbying to weaken European AI regulations.

Facing journalists’ questions on Thursday, the Commission’s spokesperson for human resources, Balazs Ujvari, claimed it had “put in place strong safeguards” to ensure potential conflicts of interest would be eliminated. However he said he wasn’t in a position to explain what these measures were, suggesting that this was for reasons of protecting private data.

Yesterday, it was revealed that Snabe will suspend his membership on the advisory boards of US giant Google Cloud and US AI company C3.ai. However he will, apparently, retain other positions, including his role at Siemens.

Lawmakers and civil society observers have questioned the appointment, warning of potential bias.

Renew lawmaker Michael McNamara said on Wednesday that von der Leyen’s Commission was starting to look like “a pale imitation of the Trump White House”.

Responding to criticism of the appointment, Thomas Regnier, Commission spokesperson for digital matters, said Snabe’s appointment had never been focused on his role at Siemens. The Commission was keen on the longstanding experience that an important person from industry could bring to the table, he said.

“All of this is about Europe – about the role that our European industry can play globally,” he added.

The responsibility for identifying individuals with the right expertise for special envoy positions lies with the respective members of the Commission’s college, per Ujvari. But he did not specify whether, in this case, that meant Tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen had picked Snabe for the AI envoy position, which will report both to von der Leyen and Virkkunen.

Snabe is tasked with writing an “evidence-based and forward-looking” report on AI. His unpaid position runs until March 2027.

(nl)