EU watchdog probes Commission’s AI pick over conflict of interest concerns

The EU’s watchdog is investigating whether the European Commission managed to “identify, assess and address” actual or potential conflicts of interest when it appointed the chairman of Siemens as Ursula von der Leyen’s AI envoy. A group of NGOs complained in June to the European Ombudsman about the choice of Jim Hagemann Snabe.

Among his responsibilities in the role is to produce a report on issues including AI infrastructure, frontier AI technologies and industrial AI adoption. The NGOs, which include Transparency International and Corporate Europe Observatory, warned that Snabe’s ongoing role at Siemens “may compromise the envoy’s independence and impartiality.” The European Ombudsman in September launched a probe into the Commission over its failure to respond to the NGO concerns.

Now, it has gone one step further. “You argue that the Commission did not properly identify, assess, and address actual or potential conflicts of interest,” Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho wrote in a letter to Corporate Europe Observatory.