Short of money, experts, and coordination, the development of European artificial intelligence is trailing world leaders. The emergence of AI factories should help close the growing gap.
EU investment in AI lags behind that of world leaders. The results of EU-funded AI projects are not systematically monitored. And there is a lack of effective coordination between the EU and member states. That is the conclusion of a recent report by the European Court of Auditors, conducted with the goal of provodong detailed insight into the state of Europe’s development if articicial intelligence.
In the competition for leadership in the field of AI, the winner-takes-all attitude is omnipresent. „If the EU is to fulfil its ambitions here, the European Commission and the member states will need to join forces more effectively, pick up the pace and fully exploit the EU’s potential,“ said Mihails Kozlovs, who led the audit. “This is the only way to succeed in this ongoing major technological revolution.”
Stark reality
A year ago, things looked somewhat rosier. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a self-described techno-optimist, claimed that Europe did not just want to set ethical limits on the use of this technology, but also to contribute actively to its development. The goal was not to leave this field to the current world leaders, China and the United States. “Artificial intelligence, if used responsibly, represents a very important opportunity,” Ms von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos last year.
Alas, the stark truth of today’s European reality is very different. The continent accounts for only a fraction of the finance invested globally in AI development. “In 2023, an estimated $8 billion was invested in AI in the EU, compared to $68 billion in the US and $15 billion in China,“ the Italian ex-PM Mario Draghi said in his last year’s report on European competitiveness.
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„Several companies creating generative AI models in Europe, including Aleph Alpha and Mistral, need large investments to become a competitive alternative to US players. EU capital markets are currently not meeting this need, pushing EU companies to seek foreign funding,” Mr Draghi observed.
Enter AI factories
In response to the unflattering reports, member states‘ governments adopted a joint declaration at the end of last year. In it, they said they agreed that “the EU needs to increase investment in AI and facilitate access to digital infrastructure to become a globally competitive player with global impact, take the lead in AI development and deployment, foster talent and create an ecosystem of excellence and trust.”
In response to the unflattering reports, member states‘ governments adopted a joint declaration at the end of last year. In it, they said they agreed that “the EU needs to increase investment in AI and facilitate access to digital infrastructure to become a globally competitive player with global impact, take the lead in AI development and deployment, foster talent and create an ecosystem of excellence and trust.”
The sticking point? These factories are to receive an investment of €1.5 billion. Compare it to the $500 billion promised (if not anywhere near delivered yet) by the Trump administration to comparable development efforts in the U.S. If anything, the investment gap is growing.
The implications are twofold. One aspect is economic: for example, the global consultancy PwC estimates that the world’s GDP could grow by up to 14 percent by 2030 as a result of the use of AI. The other concers security. Europe’s over-reliance on foreign models could compromise its independence.
The supercomputer edge
Not everything is bleak for Europe, however. The continent is a rather surprising leader in the field of supercomputers, boasting three out of five of the world’s most powerful such machines.
“Using European supercomputers, we will enable AI start-ups to innovate and scale up. We are now ready to lead the way with the right infrastructure for our ambition to make the EU the continent of AI. We are well on our way to making the AI factories initiative a reality within the first 100 days of the new European Commission,” said Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.
Experts recommend that these supercomputers be available to AI start-ups quickly so that the latter can train their models. As Mr Draghi points out, “the development of artificial intelligence risks losing leadership and profitability if the technology is not quickly integrated into their offerings”.
