By Julia Payne

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe’s nominated head of tech sovereignty and security will work towards boosting the EU’s use of artificial intelligence and “disruptive” technology for the battlefield.

In written responses to European Parliament questions, Henna Virkkunen said she would prepare an AI and Cloud Development Act to counter the EU’s growing “productivity gap” with China and the United States.

The European Parliament will hold hearings for the next Commission team in November to discuss their new roles and any conflicts of interest. Parliament must approve every nominee.

“Only 8% of EU businesses use AI, only 33% of our companies use cloud, and the data centre footprint in Europe is one third of that in the US,” Virkkunen wrote.

The potential new Act would focus on developing energy efficient technology, prioritising large-scale investments considered “first-of-a-kind”, setting new standards for the Single Market, and security of supply and cybersecurity.

The CEO of AI chipmaker Nvidia said on Wednesday that the EU needed to accelerate progress in AI as he launched a new supercomputer site in Denmark.

Virkkunen said the protection of minors was one of her top priorities and she would tackle the addictive quality of social media apps that hurt children and adolescents.

“The recently opened investigations against TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram on addictive design, dark patterns and protection of minors need to be vigorously pursued,” she wrote.

The European Commission in May decided to open an in-depth investigation into Facebook and Instagram over child safety. Meta Platforms, which owns the sites, says it already has a number of online tools to protect children.

Virkkunen will also work to develop the European Defence Union with her peers. The Commission included a Defence Commissioner role for the first time to build up military manufacturing capacity next to the bloc’s eastern border on the edge of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Virkkunen said she wants to help fund and scale up “disruptive” technologies for civilian and military purposes.

“Small deep tech companies can bring real disruptive effect to the battlefield, but they remain underfunded,” she said.

(Reporting by Julia Payne; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)