Two weeks ago the European commission published with much fanfare a white paper on artificial intelligence (duly reported on our front page of two issues back).

Other media did not bother, and they were right. What is needed now is for a courageous Maltese minister to stand up and consign this white paper to oblivion.

We doubt if this will happen for Maltese ministers of whatever hue are notoriously soft where Brussels is concerned and the white paper does not undermine what we consider our national interests as we see them.

So what's so wrong with the white paper? To explain in simple terms, the white paper is still in the analogue era while the rest of the world has moved on to digital.

The white paper is based on fear, fear of a high-tech digital future. So there is a need to protect oneself against it. And the inevitable conclusion is the belief that regulation is the solution.

Basically the commission underestimates the extent to which the US and China are dominating the market. Typically the EU is still using data from 2016. The gap has widened more since then.

A report by Stanford university has shown that the US and China account for almost all global AI investment. The only two countries with meaningful investments in the technology are the UK and Israel. The European Union is simply not a player in this field.

The only European country with any meaningful presence in AI is the UK which has left the EU. The UK is outspending the US on a per capita basis on mathematics research.

Now the EU could have carved out a significant niche for itself in this area. France and Germany still have some of the best mathematicians and engineers in the world.

But the EU has chosen to prioritize data protection over AI investment.

Besides, the commission's white paper also excludes defence from its remit when this is one of the most important applications.

The EU is simply not a player in military AI. China drew up a long-term AI strategy in 2017, closely followed by Russia and the US. The US has already used AI technology in Iraq and Syria.

The spillovers from defence to the civilian sector will thus benefit companies in the US and China but not in the EU.

This is not the only area at risk.

European carmakers are late to the market of electric cars and have little knowledge of AI-based systems. Europe's loss of innovation is thus closely related to the end of the analogue era.

The digital revolution started in the last century but most of its economic impact is still ahead of us. A growing proportion of trade in this century will be in data.

When you trade data, geographic location becomes irrelevant. This is, if we care to reflect, Malta's advantage and there is a small number of Maltese companies that are venturing into this area.

This is thus more reason for these companies to get in touch with the government and pressure it to lobby for the abrogation of the white paper and for its replacement by a more 'digital' approach.