Transparency International EU, Corporate Europe Observatory, LobbyControl and The Good Lobby have once more submitted a complaint to the European Commission, this time calling on it to revoke the appointment of its new AI envoy, Jim Hagemann Snabe. It highlights four glaring ethics issues that make his position untenable:
- He is the chairman of the supervisory board of Siemens, a company with considerable stakes in the AI market.
- While he has suspended his membership of the advisory boards of Google Cloud and C3.ai, these prior appointments may still influence his position as AI envoy.
- He is a member of the board at Bloom Energy Corporation, a corporation that provides on-site power generation for data centres.
- He is a member of the board of the investment fund Temasek Holdings, which holds investments across the digital industry.
Clearly, the scope for outside interests influencing Mr Hagemann Snabe’s judgement is high, and allow citizens to call into question his loyalty to public office. His appointment must be revoked with immediate effect.
Read the complaint in full here.
