She promotes AI for societal good in Europe

Cars roar through the European Quarter along Brussels' busiest street, Rue de la Loi. Air quality here can be among the worst in Europe on a bad day. Ten floors above the deafening noise, Helen Köpman’s office is located in one of the European Commission’s many glass and concrete buildings.

“I’ve sold my car. Nowadays I bike everywhere I go, it gives me a moment of recovery after work and I don’t have to get stressed in endless traffic jams,” she says.

Helen Köpman is deputy head of the AI for Societal Good Unit at the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. Around 900 people work here with regulation and support for innovation to ensure that Europe is secure, competitive and digitally independent.

Anna Nilsen

“I think it’s great to be able to work with technology in a way that’s beneficial to society,” says Helen Köpman.

Sustainability and digitalisation

Her current focus is on how AI and so-called digital twins can improve the urban environment by, for example, improving traffic flows and reducing emissions. With about 75 per cent of Europeans living in cities, a figure likely to increase, this is an important issue not only for the climate but also for public health.

“We want to use the information provided by cities in a smarter way so that all services and infrastructure work better. Sustainability and digitalisation go hand in hand,” she says.

Anna Nilsen

AI has been on the European agenda for over 40 years. But two years ago, the European Commission’s AI Office was created to meet the accelerating technological development in the field. However, Helen Köpman does not believe that the EU should try to compete with the US and China in the development of large-scale language models.

“We don’t know if these big models are ‘the killer app’. This is just the first wave of the new AI revolution. We haven’t at all seen where this will land.”

Instead, according to her, the EU focuses more on how industries and companies in the energy sector, the automotive industry and healthcare can integrate AI into their work processes.

“We want to improve society and are exploring how to integrate AI in a responsible way that makes us more efficient, smarter, more competent and more productive.”

40 bottles if wine

On the 10th floor, the grey carpet softens the sounds of the open office environment. There is a miles wide view of Brussels in three directions. Everywhere you look, cranes tower over the mixed and ever-changing cityscape of the city of millions that is the heart of the European Union.

When Helen Köpman first came to Brussels in the early 1990s, things looked quite different.

Anna Nilsen

Immediately after graduating with an MSc in Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering in 1989, she had taken a job at a consulting firm in Stockholm but soon felt an urge to move abroad. Through Sweden’s Technical Attachés, a foundation funded by the Swedish state and the private sector, Helen Köpman was given an assignment in Brussels. It concerned picking up the latest technology trends in the IT and telecom sectors and reporting home.

“I wanted to know what it’s like to work in another country. A stimulating environment, opening my senses and understanding more about the outside world.”

When Sweden voted in favour of joining the EU in 1995, it was with a narrow margin.

“In the Swedish EU delegation, we bet on the percentage of yes votes in the referendum. We each put in a bottle of wine. I was closest and got 40 bottles of wine,” Helen Köpman says with a smile.

Digital solutions

As Sweden was now a member of the EU, new job opportunities opened up, and she was employed by the Commission to help Sweden in its transition into the EU. But after a year, her desire for adventure grew and she moved to Amsterdam, where she helped develop mobile VPN solutions. And after seven years in the commercial industry she took another turn.

Anna Nilsen

“When I was expecting my second child, I thought I should maybe ‘calm down’ a little so I moved back to Brussels with my family and took a job at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation.

But getting a job at the European Commission is not easy. For a single position, there may be over 100,000 applicants, whittled down through a series of rigorous tests.

“The eye of the needle is indeed very small,” says Helen Köpman.

During her years at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, she worked with international cooperation at Horizon, the EU’s large research framework programme. Since 2010, she has been working at the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology.

Sustainable society

In the early 2010s, Helen Köpman’s focus was on self-driving cars. After that, it was blockchain identification solutions, digital euro and support to startups, among other things. Now she devotes most of her time to the current AI race with the emergence of large-scale language models and socially beneficial applications.

Anna Nilsen

“AI is a fascinating area but also a bit scary sometimes when you think about what can happen to this development if you lose control.”

In addition to smart cities, Helen Köpman’s unit also works with AI solutions for energy optimisation and extreme weather events. According to her, the climate issue is crucial, and she is convinced that new technology can help in the right direction – as long as it is used responsibly.

“I’d like to see a future where our children can live without worrying about the future of the planet. If we succeed in creating a more sustainable society, we can solve many of the problems facing the world. That’s why it feels meaningful to work with smart cities, sustainability and AI.”

Anna Nilsen