There is no intention of catching up in the European AI race, European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen declared at the AI Action Summit in Paris.
While the US and China are often considered front runners, von del Reyen said that AI racing is “a long distance” and that Europe has distinct strengths to carve its own leading role. I emphasized.
“This is the third summit on AI safety in over a year,” von derreyen said. “In the same period, three generations of even more powerful AI models were released. Some expect a model that approaches human reasoning within a year.”
The European Commission president set the tone of the event by contrasting the foundations built on the previous summit with this urgency.
“Past summits have focused on laying the foundation for AI safety. Together, we are able to see that AI is safe, which promotes our value and benefits humanity. We’ve built a shared consensus. But the summit focuses on action, and that’s exactly what we need right now.”
Just as the world witnessed the destructive power of AI, von der Reyen urged Europe to “take us in and develop a vision for society and as humanity.” She argued that expanding adoption “in key areas of our economy and for the important challenges of our time” provides a great opportunity for the continent to lead.
In the case of a European approach to AI racing
Von Der Leyen rejected the notion that Europe is behind its global competitors.
“Too often I hear that Europe is behind race. The US and China are already moving forward. I don’t agree,” she said. “The frontier is constantly moving, and we still have global leadership.”
Instead of replicating what other regions are doing, she sought to double Europe’s unique strengths to define the continent’s clear approach to AI.
“Too often, I’ve heard that we should recreate what others do and run after their strengths,” she said. “I think instead, we should invest in what we can do our best and be based on our strengths here in Europe.
Von der Leyen has defined three pillars: what is known as “European brand AI.” This would look like this: 1) focusing on high complexity, industry-specific applications, 2) adopting a collaborative and collaborative approach to innovation, 3) open source principles.
“This summit shows that there is a clear European brand of AI,” she insisted. “We’re already pushing for innovation and adoption, and it’s speeding up.”
Accelerating innovation: AI Factory and Giga Factory
Von Der Leyen said that Europe must strengthen its AI innovation to remain competitive.
A key element of this strategy lies in its computational infrastructure. Europe already boasts some of the fastest supercomputers in the world. This is currently being utilized through the creation of “AI factories.”
“In just a few months, we set records for 12 AI factories,” revealed Von Der Leyen. “And we’re investing 10 billion euros in them. This is not a promise. It’s happening now. It’s also the world’s largest public investment, unlocking more than 10 times more private investment.”
Beyond these first steps, von del Reyen has announced an even more ambitious initiative. Built at the scale of CERN’s large hadron colliders, AI GigaFactories provides the infrastructure needed to train AI systems at an unprecedented scale. They aim to promote collaboration between researchers, entrepreneurs and industry leaders.
“We provide infrastructure for great computing power,” explained Von Der Leyen. “World talent is welcome. Industry can work together to integrate data.”
The cooperative spirit that underpins AI GigaFactories is part of the broader European push to balance competition and collaboration.
“AI needs not only competition, it also collaboration,” she emphasized, highlighting that the initiative serves as a “safe space” for these collaborative efforts.
Building trust with AI law
Importantly, Von Der Leyen reiterated his European commitment to making AI safe and reliable. She pointed out that EU AI law is the cornerstone of this strategy and framing it as a harmonious framework that replaces fragmented state regulations across member states.
“The AI Act provides one set of one safety regulations (450 million people) across the European Union, rather than 27 different national regulations,” she said, adding that companies’ concerns about the complexities of the regulations. I said it before accepting it.
“At the same time, we have to make it easier, we need to cut the red tape, and we do.”
200 billion euros to stay in AI races
Funding such an ambitious plan naturally requires important resources. Von Der Leyen praised the recently launched EU AI Champions Initiative.
In his speech at the summit, Von Der Leyen announced the committee’s complementary Investai initiative, which will bring an additional 50 billion euros. Overall, the result is that it mobilizes 200 billion euros in public and private AI investments.
“We will focus on industrial and mission-critical applications,” she said. “It will become the world’s largest public-private partnership for the development of trustworthy AI.”
Ethical AI is a global responsibility
Von Der Leyen closed her address by framing European AI ambitions within the broader humanitarian perspective, claiming that ethical AI is a global responsibility.
“Cooperative AI is attractive far beyond Europe, including its partners in the Global South,” she declared, extending its message of inclusion.
Von Der Leyen expressed full support for the AI Foundation launched at the summit, highlighting its mission to ensure widespread access to AI benefits.
“AI can be a gift for humanity, but we must ensure that profits are widely available and accessible to everyone,” she said.
“We want AI to be an eternal force. We want AI to work together and everyone benefits. That’s our path – our Europe method.”
See: AI Action Summit: Leaders call for unity and fair development
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