By Foo Yun Chee and Inti Landauro

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission on Wednesday announced a 1-billion-euro ($1.1 billion) plan to ramp up the use of artificial intelligence in key industries amid a push to cut the European Union’s reliance on U.S. and Chinese technologies.

The EU executive’s Apply AI strategy followed an action plan unveiled in April which seeks to lighten the regulatory burden and costs for startups struggling to comply with landmark AI rules which entered into force in August last year.

The move also underscores Europe’s goal of achieving strategic autonomy in key sectors amid trade tensions with the United States and China and the dominance of U.S. Big Tech.

“I want the future of AI to be made in Europe,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in

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