eDreams ODIGEO (hereinafter, ‘the Company’), the world’s leading travel subscription company and one of Europe’s largest e-commerce companies joined key decision-makers in Brussels yesterday for talks on Artificial Intelligence implementation and regulation, amid the ongoing discussions on the European Union’s AI Act.
Recognised as a leading player in Artificial Intelligence, eDreams ODIGEO was invited to contribute insights on understanding opportunities and challenges, ensuring safe and compliant technological advancements, and establishing new standards in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
In a panel discussion alongside fellow business leaders, the Company’s General Counsel, Guillaume Teissonnière, emphasized the need for ensuring a regulatory framework that bolsters European-based businesses, ensuring their competitiveness in the global marketplace. While acknowledging the EU’s delivery in legislation crafting, Teissonnière highlighted the need for enhanced mechanisms and processes to ensure robust enforcement. His remarks shed light on the importance of bridging the gap between policy creation and its effective implementation, emphasizing the need for a stronger enforcement framework within the European Union.
The General Counsel of the world’s largest travel subscription platform also highlighted that even though the AI Act is yet to come into force, a majority of AI applications and AI-powered platforms are already governed by existing regulations across various domains, from data protection to competition or consumer regulations, and these require strong enforcement too. Teissonnière’s comments resonate with recent concerns voiced by the Company, particularly concerning the lack of compliance exhibited by digital gatekeepers like Google concerning the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
eDreams ODIGEO’s General Counsel also highlighted the need for a strategic approach to data management across the European tech ecosystem, emphasizing the significance of responsible governance to harness the full potential of data, ensuring that control remains within European entities rather than being dominated by major digital gatekeepers located primarily outside EU borders.
Finally, Teissonnière also pointed out the vast potential that this technology holds for European tech powerhouses as it drives productivity gains, enhances the personalisation of products and services and enables an overall improved servicing to consumers.
Hosted by the Financial Times and Google, this select invitation-only event gathered leading figures from across European institutions, including the Vice President of the European Commission, several members of the European Parliament, national governments and representatives from institutions such as the Council of Europe and the OECD, as well as the President of Google EMEA.
eDreams ODIGEO’s decade-long strategic investments in AI have positioned the Company as a leader among AI-led companies globally, not just in the travel industry, but in the broader e-commerce sector. eDreams ODIGEO has integrated an AI-first approach, embedding the technology across the board in the business.
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About eDreams ODIGEO
eDreams ODIGEO is the world’s leading travel subscription platform and one of the largest e-commerce businesses in Europe. Under its four renowned online travel agency brands – eDreams, GO Voyages, Opodo, Travellink, and the metasearch engine Liligo – it serves more than 20 million customers per year across 44 markets. Listed on the Spanish Stock Market, eDreams ODIGEO works with nearly 700 airlines. The business conceptualised Prime, the first subscription product in the travel sector which has topped 5.2 million members since launching in 2017. The brand offers the best quality products in regular flights, low-cost airlines, hotels, dynamic packages, car rental and travel insurance to make travel easier, more accessible, and better value for consumers across the globe.
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