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

Journal article

Backlash against the AI industry is growing globally in recognition of the significant 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 regulating AI while balancing 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 re-balanced in favour of societal interests due 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 re-balance EU AI policymaking: 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.

Authors: Wachter, S; Mittelstadt, B; Onitiu, D; Weinstein, N

• Publication status: Accepted
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Royal Society
• Journal: Royal Society Open Science
• Acceptance date: 2026-08-07
• EISSN: 2054-5703
• Language: English
• Keywords: artificial intelligence; technology policy; technology law; European Union; happiness; well-being; law; policy; subsidies; regulation