Optimizing for happiness in EU technology policy to repay public subsidies for AI

Backlash against the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is growing globally in recognition of the high costs and highly uncertain risks borne by society. General-purpose AI systems are sold predominantly on the basis of economic benefits, with little attention given to social or non-financial benefits. Policymakers tasked with regulating AI while balancing European Union (EU) rights and values with innovation and free market competition face a seemingly impossible task. A change of priorities is urgently needed in EU tech policy. Current policy predominantly focuses on risk mitigation rather than delivering socially beneficial technologies. EU tech policy should be rebalanced in favour of societal interests owing to the substantial (in)direct subsidies paid to support the AI industry via tax breaks, public funding, privileged access to public lands, resources, data and infrastructure and widespread deregulation. We propose adding a third goal to rebalance EU AI policy-making: happiness. When policymakers are deciding whether subsidies should be granted for the AI industry, they should require companies to concretely predict measurable benefits for happiness, and hold them accountable for delivering on their predictions. To unpack this proposal, we examine decades of research in psychology to identify key determinants of happiness, focusing on three widely accepted traits: relatedness, competence and autonomy.