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JURI European Parliament
Follow its sittingsHenna Virkkunen
At the Commission side, we have started the review of the 2019 directive on copyright in the digital single market. So we are looking at the effects of the exceptions, including also the text and data mining ones. And we are also looking at other provisions like the press publishers' rights, those on online content sharing platforms, and the remuneration of authors and performers. And meanwhile, we are also implementing the AI Act. So it's good that the general purpose AI code of practice includes very concrete measures on the obligations for general purpose AI providers to comply with the EU copyright rules.
More work is also ongoing on transparency, including on the code of conduct for content.
Labeling. The overall goal is to have a well-functioning licensing market that can benefit both European creative sectors and also our AI developers. But I'm also open to discuss other measures to support creative sectors in the age of AI concerning, for example, the challenges faced by the news media sector whose content is very valuable for AI providers, as.
We know. And finally, also the online piracy of live events continues to be a very serious concern. We are now examining REYAS for possible further action beyond this recommendation, what was published in 2023. It's clear that the efforts done so far have not been enough. So we are looking at the ways to ensure the more efficient treatment of notices sent to intermediaries, a more consistent use of dynamic injunctions across the EU, and also better cross-border cooperation among national authorities here.
And in order to advance our work on the different issues, we will launch a call for evidence and follow up with public consultation to gather views and ideas on the possible need to adjust the EU copyright framework. Mister chair, that was my opening remark for this discussion. And then, of course, I'm very much looking forward to hearing your questions and the topics you want to raise. Thank you.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk
Thank you, Executive Vice President, for your introductory statement. And I now open the floor for coordinators for their replacements, and for EPP, we will be mister Woz, the coordinator.
Thank.
Axel Voss
Thank you very much indeed, chairman. Madam Vice President, thank you very much indeed for being here with us today. Thank you for this exchange of views on matters that concern not only the euro committee, but the wider digital world. So to begin with, I'd like to thank you for setting out the ambitions in copyright. I think it will be about fixing some problems rather than obsessing over existing older legislations.
I think you're certainly on track, on the right track, but I do think it will remain challenging when we focus on AI and its impact on intellectual property and copyright. We really need to discuss this idea of when there is, in fact, intellectual property protection. So what if the proportion of content is about 59 to 41? And, you know, how we're going to determine where to draw the line between something that is AI-generated or not? And I think I'd like to ask you about your readiness when it comes to the implementation of the directive on intellectual property rights.
IPRIT, I think, is a problem, the intellectual property rights enforcement directive. That's something we want to look at. We're going to do some work on that in URI online piracy. Again, a very important topic. In this digital world, I'm always struck by the matter of capital.
We do need a lot more money to go into this sector, so that we retain startups and we don't lose talent. We don't lose people. And so we have to really unite forces, join forces, and that's the main challenge we face.
Be Timo Jok Vulcan.
Tiemo Wölken
Yes. Thank you very much, and thanks for being here today. So, recently, journalists have uncovered that automated enforcement systems for copyright claims are abused by bad actors to remove news articles, for example, from the Google search index. So in this specific case, I know it was about investigative Europe. The bad actor who managed to get the news article taken down managed to game the automated enforcement tool and pretend that a fake article they uploaded was the original, and the real reporting was violating their copyright to make the real article disappear.
So, it's obviously a huge issue. Copyright enforcement tools can become instruments of press censorship in that way. So, I'm very worried, and I would like to know if the commission is going to address this issue, which was also included in the parliament's initiative report as it reviews the copyright directive, and you already mentioned what you are going to look into. And then there would be one other main issue when it comes to AI and copyright, which is ensuring that fair remuneration for creatives happens. In parliament, I have the feeling that most of us are aligned on the principle.
But, of course, there are differences when it comes to the measures to get to a fair enumeration. And as S and D, we want to ensure that smaller creatives get their fair share and are not outplayed by bigger right holders with more market power and bigger legal departments. How is the commission going to ensure that AI companies are not simply going to agree exclusive deals with big right holders, leaving smaller creatives out in the cold? And is the commission going to propose collective bargaining mechanisms, or is it even considering the form of levy as it was recently suggested by Mr.? Hale?
Mario Mantovani
You, chair. I'll speak Italian. Commissioner, I'm not usually gentle with commissioners. It'll be the same for you, but I acknowledge that there is a change of pace. Take out factories, owing euro trading, these are it's a move from regulation to industrial policy, but the data show where we are over 10 years.
AI has attracted 47000000000 euros of private capital as opposed to the €50,000,000,000 of Europe. Venture capital in Europe is €120,000,000,000, has fallen to 50 in 2025, and Stargate has completely changed the paradigm with its capital. Europe is too dependent on public funding. Commissioner, recently, you visited Patton Württemberg where the Alpha case is instructive. All the they gathered a lot of funding, but the heads of 50 engineers, people who were replaced by software.
So, productivity is a concern to investors. Yuwing is following the right route, but we need to look at company law and look at European taxation and one digit. When will we address this challenge, do you think? And then where Stargate is in Delaware, of course, where taxation is minimal. Now these new innovative operations such as those in Italy are centers of excellence, and we need some structure from micro enterprises with imposing common standards like APIs is on everybody means to a barrier to startups in telemedicine and so on.
So they facilitate the big companies, but too often, we forget the principle of small first. Thank you.
Dainius Žalimas
Thank you, chair. Dear vice president of the commission, first of all, I would like to thank you very much for coming here and for this possibility to exchange our views on different issues. However, my question will be from another field for which you are also responsible, and which most likely requires an urgent action from the side of the commission. We can observe in some member states, national public broadcasters have already been captured by the ruling majorities. And I would particularly draw on this point the attention to Lithuania, the country where I was elected, where the recent developments raise serious concerns about the protection of national public broadcasters' independence.
These concerns are reinforced by the European Parliament's resolution, you know, we adopted in January, also by the critical Venice Commission assessment of the plan and already adopted legislation concerning national public broadcaster. And in particular, I would like to emphasize the ongoing legislative process. For example, this week, which is moving at an unprecedented speed, really, and the principle which we call the principle of bulldozer. That means that the ruling majority doesn't pay any attention to any expert opinion, doesn't wait for any assessment from the European Commission side, doesn't wait for the next opinion of the Venice Commission to be adopted by way under urgency procedure. They are moving with legislative amendments with the sole purpose to remove the current leadership of a national public broadcaster until May 19 this year.
So that that is the plan. So against this background, may I first ask whether the commission is fully aware of the developments in Lithuania? Furthermore, given the urgency, is the commission going to undertake an early assessment of the legislative initiatives? Still, they are initiatives. They haven't been adopted.
And my third question, could you clarify why no action so far has been taken by the commission, for example, initiating infringement procedures, with regard to the legislative amendments concerning the reduction of funding of national public broadcaster and which was found to be in violation of European Freedom Act by the Venice Commission already. Thank you.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk
Thank you, mister Zelimas. And next is Sergei Laguinski, the coordinator of the Green IFA Group.
Sergey Lagodinsky
Thank you, and thank you, dear vice president, also for engaging with us again despite the fact that it's not always an easy conversation, and thank you for continuing it, nevertheless. I have a couple of points and a couple of questions. Number one, on AI, Omnibus, AI Act Omnibus, where I was the rapporteur here for the jury committee. As you know, as opposed to our opinion from the jury committee, the final product of the parliament foresees that annex one, the horizontal nature, will be changed to the vertical one. This is from my perspective of fragmentation and making life of many companies more difficult because they will not know which sector will be regulated by what.
I still don't know your position and position of the commission. Is there already one? Because the trial logs are upcoming. Number two, the constant topic: AI agents. We have an exchange on this also in writing.
And to this date, the AI office hasn't published any guidance on that. The FAQ of AI Act Service Desk says openly, it's only the preliminary assessment. So we still don't have certainty. So would you confirm now that the AI Act applies to AI agents? You know this is not the future.
It's now. And, especially in the light of article 14 of the human oversight of AI act, we need to know what's happening because this oversight is obviously lacking in case of AI agents. Number three, anthropic myths. The myths model, as you know, has been released and taken back. There is a discussion with the US government and anthropics.
Our position is not clear. At least I haven't heard how we position ourselves. What is our position and how we want to mitigate the risks if they are there, maybe it's just a marketing tool, we still don't know. And three very technical questions. Number one, high risk AI guidelines, they were promised at the beginning of this year.
Are they upcoming? The report on AI bans of Article five is also outstanding. How does it look there? And what are your plans to deal with member states who did not designate the authorities, surveillance authorities according to AI act? Thank you very much.
Looking forward to your answers.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk
Thank you. And the last, for this round, is Mario Furore, the coordinator for the lead group. Thank.
Mario Furore
You, sir. Thank you, Vice President Verkun, and thank you in particular for being with us today in Zurich. I'd like to take up the work we're doing in Jure on the relationship between AI and copyright and the economic sustainability of the creative industries, which for us as a group is key. In our view, these are their very clear pillars: full transparency on training data used by the models, opt-out mechanisms which are effective and usable by their rights holders, and the development of licenses which ensure fair remuneration throughout the creative and cultural chain. We think that next week, we, as a group, are organizing two very important events.
We will have a political meeting in the morning, with a public event on AI news and publishing. And in the afternoon, we have a roundtable with the main cultural and creative sectors devoted to the relationship between AI and copyright. So it's very important to us to have from you, and we thank you for your presence here this morning, to have some clear indication as to the clear points that you're going to do in terms of the initiatives that the commission is intending to pursue in the months ahead, to keep up with the new developments and to meet the challenges in the areas I've just mentioned. Thank you.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk
Grazie, Mario. Executive vice president, this was the first round. And now I give you the floor to reply to the answers for about 10 minutes.
Henna Virkkunen
Thank you very much. Thank you for all these very important points you made, and very challenging to cover everything in ten minutes because I think very important topics you were raising. I'll start with Axel Woz and about copyright work, and many other members were also referring to this important work, what we are doing. I also see that our current legislation is a good one. But of course, during the time when it was adopted, AI didn't exist in the manner that it does now.
So we have to really look at the technological development, especially the role of AI, of course, and how we can better also cover these challenges. And we are really now opening or having a call for evidence, and after that also a public consultation during the summer. So we are gathering now information from stakeholders about what is working and what is not working in this current framework. And then we will look at what is the West Bay, also to address these parts. But especially, I see that one of the biggest challenges is, like many of you mentioned, really the transparency that when copyright protected content is used.
So transparency is, of course, the key, because otherwise the right holders know and it is not also possible to compensate it in a fair manner. So it's really the key to work with transparency. And as you know, also in our AI Act, in our Code of Practice, there are also very clear commitments from the stakeholders that they are respecting also transparency and respecting our copyright legislation. So we are working with this transparency. And also, we are working with the technical solutions also to have more machine-readable protocols, also that it's easier also to detect that right copyright protected content.
But also, your report that this committee was working on, of course, is one very important input now for our work when we are looking at how we are addressing the new challenges we are facing with AI. Because I see that it's very important that right holders' rights, of course, and copyright-protected content is protected. And also, many of the creators and rights holders are also willing to share their content, but of course, they have to have fair compensation when their work is used. And we have to really also support the different licensing models and different models of how we can make it possible. Like it was said, it's more difficult for the very small creators, for example, to protect their rights really, and to get a good conversation with the AI providers.
So, this is certainly, I think, one of the most important work we are carrying out in this year, really this review of our copyright and looking at the new challenges we are facing with the technological developments. And Mr. Volkan was underlining the importance really of the information space, that where we see that kind of practices, where someone is trying to circumvent really the rules. And I think this is something that is getting more and more alarming, of course, all the time when we look at the whole information space now, how much there is disinformation and also fake news and AI generated content, and it is getting more and more difficult also for the citizens really to also recognize if this is fact based and if this is real news or if it is not, if it is something that someone has made. There we have, of course, very clear obligations under our Digital Services Act for the online service providers that they have to have practices in place how they are really assessing and mitigating all that kind of systematic risk that they are posing with their services.
And also with our Digital Markets Act, of course, we are enforcing it in a way where we want to make sure that really the gatekeepers are not misusing their very dominant market power, and we also have a fair and safe environment in the digital world. So I think our DSA and DMA, they are really key tools here, and we are all the time enforcing them and gathering information, of course, about the practices, what we see there, because we want to make sure that the online providers, online service providers, that they are accountable for their work. Mr. Mandovani was underlining the importance really to boost innovations and also support our smaller companies in our markets. And this is very clear when we look at our strengths in the European Union, I see that we have huge potential for innovation, especially in our startups.
We have 45,000 startups in the European Union, and 8,000 of them are working to train and develop AI systems. And often they are facing, especially in AI, the one challenge they are facing is really access to computing capacity, and that's why it's great that we have managed now with the Member States to make decisions that we are investing into 19 AI factories in the European Union, because it means that we will have 5x, 6x more computing capacity for our markets, and we can open it up for our start ups and for our SMEs. But there is even more demand for computing capacity. So this is not enough to have 5x or 6x more than we have now. So that's why we have also launched this initiative of Gigafactories to have more computing capacity also for very, very big models and to train and develop them.
But when we look at, especially our small companies, it's important that we are creating better single markets. So we are removing the barriers between the Member States, and also we are creating a better capital markets union. So all the work that we are doing under savings and investments union is super important for our companies and industries because we know that we have a lot of capital in the European Union, but we haven't been able to mobilize it for the investments and innovation. So our households, they have more than EUR 30,000,000,000,000 in savings accounts in the banks. And of course, if we are able to incentivize and mobilize part of that to investments in European companies, of course, it will be a really game chaser.
So that's why savings and investments union is so important, but also our 28th regime, where we want to make it possible really to establish a company in a digital way and operate in all the Member States under one company law. So this is, of course, super important for our innovative companies. And together with Business Wallet, where we want to make sure that you can operate in a digital manner, cross border, all over in the European Union, so it's going very much hand in hand with our 28 regime. So I see that it's very important for our innovations and investments that we are really cutting the administrative burden and bureaucracy, and we are creating a better single market and make it easier for our small companies to operate overall in the European Union. So we have huge opportunities here and huge potential, but now we have to really use all the potential we have.
Remember, Zalimas was underlining the importance of media freedom, and this is, of course, a very serious question, what we are speaking about here, because we see that our news media is under very hard pressure now inside the European Union, of course, globally also. But for us, this is a crucial pillar of our democracies and rule of law that we have free independent media and media pluralism can be safeguarded. Also in this very difficult situation where we are with the technological and market developments, we know that the online world, it has changed a lot for news media. More and more people are just following news via social media. They are not used to paying off news content.
They are not buying newspapers like they used to. And that's why I think it's the most important thing that we have to make sure that online service providers are not misusing their very dominant market power. So that's why the Digital Markets Act is very important here. And also, we are now looking at different ways how we can really support our news media and the prominence of news media. But then, of course, we have this specific legislation, the European Media Freedom Act, that came into force now in August.
And now we are really looking at how the member states are implementing it because many of them were very late in the implementation. So we have been encouraging and pushing member states to now implement it. And there is in our Media Freedom Act, there are very clear obligations about the independence of media and editorial work. And also about financing, that's how the financing of the public services is done. So there's very clear obligations for the Member States on how they have to make sure that also public broadcasters are ensuring the full media freedom.
And now we are really implementing the EMFA together with Commissioner MacGrad, and we are looking at each Member State at how they are doing it. And this will be, of course, part of our rule of law report, again, to look at the media landscape in different Member States. But I see that, especially news media, is something that we have to now pay special attention to because of the technological developments and market developments, because we know how crucial this is for our democracies, that we have free independent media and our citizens, they have access to this quality media and news because there is so much fake news and disinformation online. So super important for our democracies. Mister Lagdinsky was asking about the AI act and developments there.
Yes. It wasn't included in the commission's proposal to change the Annex one. So, because, of course, the intention was when the AI Act was adopted that we wanted to make it easier for the businesses and have that kind of horizontal legislation. And now in the parliament position, of course, parliament has taken a very ambitious proposal. So we have to look now during the dialogues at how we can make sure because I think everybody wants to make it easier, of course, for the industry and for the stakeholders to comply.
We don't have duplicated processes, but how it's done the best way, I think we still have to work on that together with the co-legislators now in the dialogues. And the AI agents, yes, they are mainly covered. They are having elements of the general purpose AI systems also. And of course, we have legislation which is covering our general-purpose AI. So AI agents are under this.
But especially because AI agents have been developing now very fast, our AI office is currently also evaluating very clearly and carefully the safety and security of these AI agents because, of course, they are posing a new kind of risk. But under generative AI, they are covered under our AI Act because, as you know, our AI Act is very, like, risk-based approach, and it says covering, I think, in a very horizontal manner many different kinds of AI systems. And also, when it comes to this very powerful new Anthropic model, Muthos, we are in dialogue with Anthropic also about this, and we are very closely also following now the developments on this. So Anthropique has also, according to my information, to decide that they will have now staged, like, a process on that, and they are also looking to the security part now very, very carefully, but we are also in dialogue with Andropik about this special case. But it just tells, of course, what kind of new challenges we are now facing when the AI models are becoming more and more capable, and also with the cybersecurity.
AI is a very important part of our cybersecurity. We are using AI a lot, but it's also posing new risks because the attackers are using AI very actively all the time. And yes, really, Mr. Furore was also underlining the role of news and media, and how crucial a moment we are now living with new technological and market developments. And I very much agree that special attention has to be paid now to our news media, that how we can support and defend really the independence of news.
And of course, the economic situation is the most difficult one for them, really, because people are maybe not willing to pay for the content anymore. And also, a very big part of advertising is on online platforms. So really, to make sure that we also have a fair environment and a level playing field in the online world also for our news media. And of course, especially in DSA, we have obligations for online platforms about the news media content. And also under DMA, we are enforcing DMA and also looking really that the gatekeepers are not misusing their dominant market power, but this is a very, very challenging field and also the protection of the copyrights because we know that news media content is something that is very interesting for the AI developers all the time and to make sure that also the right holders, right, are protected.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk
Thank you, executive vice president, for this first round. And now open the floor for the second round, starting with Adrian Vasquez Vazara for EDP. One minute, please.
Adrián Vázquez Lázara
I will speak in Spanish, vice president. Thank you.
Vice president. Two questions. Yesterday, like Ms. Van der Leijn talked about the European tool for age verification, which is important for protecting minors online. But it's not only the problem of access, but the addictive design and the functioning of the algorithms of many platforms.
I'd like to ask you whether the commission is thinking of adapting these platforms so that they can verify not only the age but also the existence of addictive patterns, and in line with what you respond to Mr. Zalimas and the social networks about they generate unreal situations about our societies and our democracy. And I was wondering if the commissioners plan to do more. And about live sports events, which was also mentioned, we should not only follow the I was the rapporteur of the report in '23, but we should also recognize that's a key European center. And we should make a framework that allows them to take down illegal content in the first twenty minutes or thirty minutes of every event.
Thank.
José Cepeda
Thank you very much indeed. Yes. I will continue in Spanish. Commissioner, I would like to continue in the same vein and delve a little bit deeper into the whole issue of Anthropic and the Mythos cloud tool, because I think it's very important for us to know what the future developments are likely to be and the associated risks, because Anthropic, I believe, has decided to enter into a consortium with two companies in order to generate funds, €100,000,000, to protect critical infrastructure, but we don't have any European companies in that consortium. And I think that in itself is worrying.
Speaker 15
So artificial intelligence, and we've got an article two of our banking regulatory system, for example, which precludes the use of AI in banking or for military purposes. And I think it is so important in the security context that it's important, I think, at this stage to push for a new regulation. We need to talk about AI for military purposes and proper protection thereof, because we need proper human oversight over AI and also supervisory machinery for these specific users, because things really are running away with us, and we've got to look at our productive capacity in Europe and look at the AI component of that, because we got to look at generative AI going forward. Thank you very much.
Thomas SIBER
From the new group. Thank you, chair. Thank you, Mister Vice President, for attending our most colorful format in the European Parliament, this exchange of views. I think we agree in many things. Europe needs to become stronger in technology and security, stronger in defending our democracy.
But this ambition is not enough. If we talk about the DNA, then we must ensure one thing above all, that we build infrastructure which is fast, secure, and truly European. If we talk about artificial intelligence and digital leadership, then we must ensure that innovation without overregulation and competitiveness without losing our values are upheld at the same time. And if we talk about protecting our democracy, then we must be very clear. The fight against disinformation must never become a threat to the freedom of expression.
Speaker 14
Europe must lead, but it must lead wisely. Strong where it matters, free where it counts, and always grounded in the trust of its citizens. So this little speech was created with AI, comparing your goals and my goals. So I think we agree on a lot. I have two questions for you.
Thomas SIBER
The first question is, if we look at the timelines that we set in relevant legislation, talking about that for the high risk AI, December 27, and product embedded AI, August 28. Do you think that this is fast enough? And the second question is, do you think that an AI should be a person under law as a subject of law. Thank you.
Maravillas Abadía Jover
Thank you very much indeed, Vice President. I would like to ask you two questions. First of all, when it comes to intellectual property and AI and copyright, this parliament has produced a report on AI and copyright, against this backdrop. And in terms of your legislative plans, do you plan to include any of the measures proposed by the room in the report to try and correct some of the effects on copyright and also to boost AI companies in Europe and look at those of third countries. And secondly, I want to ask you about online piracy.
Now from your words, I inferred that we had a committee mission to Spain, which found that this is a structural phenomenon within the European Union, and our present instruments, including those in the current DSA, are not able to respond swiftly enough. And so that is right. If we have rights and nobody could protect them, then they are pointless. So this visit to Madrid was extremely useful for us to grasp that the fight against piracy is not just about applying the law, but also about competitiveness and protecting our European cultural ecosystem. And that is why I was wondering whether the commission was planning any specific legislative steps in order to perhaps heed some of the recommendations we have made.
Particularly, we need to make sure that we can respond immediately in case of abuse. Thank you.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk
Executive vice president, was it from the member side? And now I think you have another good 10 minutes for your advice.
Henna Virkkunen
Very good. Thank you, everybody, for your very good questions and topics you were raising. First, about Member Lazarra's question about the protection of minors. So we have, of course, very clear priority now when we are enforcing our Digital Service Act, that the protection of minors is one of the key priorities. So we have been mainly focusing on the first two years when the DSA has been in place.
So we have been focusing on protection of minors, protection of democratic processes and elections, and then also the online shopping part, of course, is also crucial. And now we have been focusing more and more during the last months on the scams because we know that and we see that a lot of criminal activities are now taking place in the online world also. So these are clear priorities for us. And when we speak about protection of minors, yes, yesterday, we were presenting with the Commissioner President, Vonderayan, the age verification tool we have been preparing because some of the services should really verify the user's age and they are not doing it. So just a few months ago, we published our preliminary findings on four pawn platforms, adult platforms.
And of course, this is that kind of content that minors shouldn't have access to. And they are not having a proper edge verification system. So that's why we are now pushing them to change their system, and they have to really verify the age of the user because the miners shouldn't have access to this adult content. And in the same time, we don't want online platforms to start to collect people's personal data or scan people's passports or anything like that. And that's why it's important that we have that kind of age verification tool, that you can prove your age without giving your data for those online platforms.
And that's why we have been working on this age verification tool. And we know that, and you know also very well that many Member States, they are also planning to now set a minimum age for the minors to access online platforms, to social media platforms also. And of course, then we need also, if there is strict legislation, there has to be also that kind of tool, how you can prove your age. And now, we will also publish a coordination tool for the member states about this age verification tool so that we don't have like 27 different systems in the member states. But at the same time, I think it is important to underline that the online world should be safe for everybody and safe for children.
And that is why we are now enforcing our DSA, and especially looking at this part, our Article 28, where we are very clearly stating that when minors are using online services, a very high level of safety, security and privacy has to be ensured for minors. And we know that the online platforms, they are not doing everything that they should in this area. So first, we have been now focusing on that we are really investigating how the online platforms are checking that the users are 13 years old, like they should be according to online platform's own terms and conditions. Normally, the users should be at least 13 years old. And what about if the user is under 18 years old?
So between 13 and 18 years, a very high level of security, safety, and privacy has to take place. And now, last summer, we also published our guidelines for online platforms on what kind of practices we are expecting from them, what does it mean. And for example, addictive design was mentioned here a couple of weeks ago. We published our preliminary findings on TikTok and the addictive design of TikTok. And this is a very big benchmark also globally because for the first time ever, someone was now setting a line that what is addictive design.
And we see that TikTok has designed their service in the way that they are really trying to keep the user online all the time. And especially for minors, of course, it is very harmful. So they are sending all the time notifications to the user, and they have this endless scrolling there all the time. And it's so addictive that it's harmful, of course, for the people's well-being. And now we are pushing TikTok to change the design of the service because you can't make business at the cost of people's well-being.
So there is limits also how much business you can do on the cost of people's well-being. So this was very clear. First stage, took with TikTok, but also we are looking now really at how they are checking the age and how they are taking care of the safety, security, and privacy of the minors. So this is a very important priority for us. Also, a few weeks ago, we opened a very large investigation against Snapchat about this, that they are not really checking the age of the user and also via Snapchat.
It's possible often to buy alcohol, for example, for the minors or also adults who don't know they can be in contact with minors via online platforms, and this is totally against our rules. So we are enforcing this now, very effectively. Mr. Cepeda was asking more and speaking more about really the security risks, what we are now facing with the new, very capable AI models. And under our AI Act, we have made a very clear obligation for the AI model providers that they have to have practices in place on how they are taking care of the safety and security of these systems.
So there processes have to be in place, and they have to design the services in the way that safety and security is ensured here. But at the same time, you also referred to how important it is also to build European capacities in these critical technologies like cybersecurity technologies and AI. And this is, of course, the very core of my mission of TechSuverity, that the European Union has to make sure that we are not dependent on third countries or one company in very critical areas. So we have to build our own capacity. And this is also related to Mr.
Sieber's question about the same balancing innovations and investments and boosting really tech in Europe. We are now currently finalizing our proposal for the tech sovereignty package, what we are going to adopt in May from the commission side. And it will include our AI and Cloud Development Act. So we really want to boost also European cloud development and AI development. And then we will also have our Cheaps Act II there because we know that semiconductors and chips, they are very much preconditioned for any technologies, of course.
And then also, the third important part will be the open source strategy, because we see that via open source, we can really boost also our European homegrown technologies. And we have to use, of course, public procurement, for example, much more actively also to support and boost our own innovations in Europe. And when defense was mentioned here also, in our Applied AI strategy, we especially identified that defense is one part where we have to now really support the uptake of AI and development of AI. So it's one of our key sectors. And now we know that our Member States are investing hundreds of billions extra to defense now every year.
And of course, this is also a great opportunity to really boost our technological competitiveness at the same time. So the European Commission has made a recommendation for the member states that when they are investing now in defense, 10% of these defense investments should be allocated to AI, to quantum, to space technologies, to cybersecurity technologies. So those kinds of critical technologies are very important for our defense, military, and security. But at the same time, of course, this is also giving a great boost to our technological competitiveness. And we know that we have so much potential in our start ups, which are developing dual-use technologies and that kind of critical technologies, which can be used also in our defense and military and security purposes.
So I think this is also a great opportunity really to boost, at the same time, our security and defense capabilities, but also our technological competitiveness. And Madam Abadia Jovelle. Abadia Jovel, yes, was underlining the importance really also to update our copyrights, looking at the market and technological developments. And yes, that is very clear what we are doing in this year, because we are supposed now to review our copyright legislation. I think that copyright legislation is very good, what we have in place, but it's true that AI development is something that we have to now take into account.
And the report from the jury committee, of course, is very helpful, and it will be one of our very important inputs now. We are also, in the same time, collecting evidence from our stakeholders and we will also open public consultation in this summer to gather information from our stakeholders about where are the problems, what is working and what is not working, and how to address these challenges. And online piracy, yes, we have to do more for that because the recommendation we adopted three years ago, it's not two years ago, it's not enough. So especially this is the problem that the online platforms, they should react, of course, immediately because it is not enough if they are reacting the next day, because when the live event is going on and we know already when we have been doing investigation on online platforms that many of them, they don't have good notice and action mechanism. It's, of course, a problem for all the users, and we are pushing them to change it, that it should be easier for all the users to really notify and make the notices, and they have to take actions faster as online platforms, especially, of course, to that kind of protected content.
We have to have special, of course, also practices for that. And now we are looking also at what is the best way to address that. So we are now working with the review of copyright, but at the same time, important work is also now going on because we are also, in this year, reviewing our audiovisual media services directive at the same time. I think this will be a very important year for our creative sector as a whole, where we are looking to market and technological developments and how we can also address this in our legislation. So thank you very much for everybody.
It was a great pleasure to be here with the jury committee today, and I thank you for all the work you have been doing with your ini reports and with our legislation as co-legislators. And really, I want to underline that it would be very important now also to conclude the negotiations on digital omnibus during this year, and also business wallet and 28 regime, because it's really now or never moment for Europe to boost our technological capacity and really support our startups and businesses to scale up their business in Europe because there's huge potential. Thank you.
Ilhan Kyuchyuk
Thank you very much, Executive Vice President, for your presence and also for answering all the questions from the members. I hope, of course, to continue this engagement and dialogue in the future. And let me reiterate once again that our committee is really committed to the issues of today's agenda, and this will stay for the future.
Thank you very much.
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