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“Using Data Science in Competition Enforcement and Platform Regulation” forthcoming in European Competition Journal
Competition authorities in Europe and beyond have started to rely on data science to monitor markets and to check compliance with the applicable rules. The Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act have made the use of data science among regulators even more relevant considering the scale and complexity of the monitoring that is required.
In work done for the expert group to the EU Observatory on the Online Platform Economy, “Charting a Way Forward for the Use of Data Science in Competition Enforcement and Platform Regulation” (joint with Inge Graef and Ulrich Laitenberger), we study the range of data science tools that is already available to competition authorities and other regulators. We reflect on the promises and challenges of the future uptake of data science tools and discuss how data science expertise can be integrated into regulatory agencies. The existing use of data science shows that regulators are capable of adjusting their organizations and processes to reap the potential of employing technology tools in their activities. At the same time, the future uptake of data science comes with challenges relating to the reliability of data and the privacy of individuals. Beyond involvement in specific investigations, data science also carries the potential of reforming the work of regulators by moving towards a more proactive form of enforcement. Exchanging data science expertise and tools across regulators deserves to be further facilitated to increase collaboration and share resources.
The paper will be published soon in the European Competition Journal.
Postdoctoral Researcher (Political Economy, AI, Autocracy) at Tilburg University
The Tilburg Law and Economics Center at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, is looking for a Postdoctoral Researcher to work, in a team, on “Artificial Intelligence in Autocratic Countries.” The goal of the project is to produce both fundamental research on the political economy of AI-development in autocratic countries (esp. China and Russia) and applicable advice for European policy makers.
Candidates should have a PhD in a social science, good empirical skills and experience in working with data (econometrics, statistics, and/or data science). The specific discipline of the PhD does not matter but political scientists, economists, economic geographers, or area specialists of China and/or Russia (or a related autocratic country and governance institutions) may have an advantage. Applicants should also have knowledge and interest in (i) politics, international relations, or political economy and also in (ii) digital industries, technology innovation, or AI-development. Specific knowledge of the countries, institutions, and languages of China or Russia is a plus but not mandatory.
Application deadline is 6 October 2024.
EU Horizon project AI4POL granted
The European Commission has just granted a large research project on “Using Artificial Intelligence to Support Regulators and Policy Makers” (AI4POL). The project is coordinated at Tilburg University (led by TILEC). Other consortium members comprise TU Munich, the University of East Anglia, Visionary Analytics (Lithuania), Centerdata (NL), and University Sapienza in Rome. Here is the plan, which will start in early 2025:
AI-innovation in Europe lags behind the US and China. To catch up and ensure pro-European outcomes, AI-regulation constitutes the EU’s main channel to shape the future of AI-development globally. This project will support European regulators and policy makers with knowledge and tools to adequately address challenges and opportunities of trustworthy and ethical AI and to develop and enforce effective regulation of AI based on human rights, European values, and citizens’ needs. AI4POL will explore how regulators can use data science and AI-driven tools to improve monitoring and enforcement of regulations such as the Data Act, the Digital Markets Act, the AI Act and in consumer law. To this end, we will focus on a key innovation area, financial services, and how to increase AI-enhanced understanding and citizen feedback for the informed regulation of digital services by developing a large language model for legal jargon translation and a browser-plugin for user feedback about their understanding of laws. We will also analyze how to create and regulate trustworthy AI for financial services, for example with robo-advisors or credit scoring. Taking a long-term, geopolitical perspective, we will develop an early-warning system regarding high-risk AI in autocratic states, including the development of an AI Threat Index and dashboard and piloted with the cases of China and Russia.
AI4POL pursues these objectives with a multidisciplinary, diverse research team, combining substantive expertise in AI/data science, ethics, law, economics, and political science with project management resilience, quality assurance and timeline monitoring, and risk-based intervention plans. The consortium has extensive experience in advising policy makers and has reliable contacts to various stakeholders, evidenced by AI4POL’s Advisory Board comprising EU- and national regulators and policy makers, consumer protection agencies, civil society organizations, and AI-firms.
Platform Regulation and AI in China
Both academic and policy-oriented research about online platform technologies and their regulation in North America and Europe is active and widespread. Especially many researchers from industrial organization (within economics), competition law (within jurisprudence), and information systems and computer science are active here. Given the high economic significance of the area, the European Commission established the independent expert group to the EU Observatory on the Online Platform Economy a few years ago, which should advise the Commission on the main trends of the online platform economy and analyze potentially harmful practices there (see here and links from there). Now, after several years of work and scrutiny, the first reports are ready and about to being published.
One of them is a report with a novel topic that looks in exploratory fashion beyond the realm of the Western digital sphere and beyond how the internet works in democratic countries: “Regulation of Digital Platforms and the State’s Use of Platform Technologies in China” (co-authored with Inge Graef and Doh-Shin Jeon). Platform technologies (Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics) are not only used in the West but also in autocratic countries. While the major players in the West are privately-owned big tech firms, in autocratic countries the government assumes a much more active role. China is the most advanced of these countries. This report takes stock of China’s current state of digital platform markets and regulation of platform technologies, including a series of recent governmental interventions and a description of the Chinese Central Bank Digital Currency. It also offers a view on the current use of platform technologies by the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including Social Credit Systems and the surveillance state. Based on these insights, we identify key challenges for EU policy makers and formulate crucial questions for future (more quantitative) research.
As both the Chinese government and Chinese businesses are fully embracing digital technologies and, in particular, AI, this piece is set to be only a first (and qualitative) step. A scarce literature is being created. More knowledge is dearly needed if we want to better understand (and counter, where necessary) the Chinese approach to platform technologies.
Jens Prüfer 