**The AI Standoff Between Europe and the US: Can Europe Catch Up?**
As tensions between Europe and the US continue to rise, one aspect of the conflict is gaining attention: artificial intelligence. The EU is waking up to the realization that its dependency on American-made AI is a liability, and it’s taking steps to reduce its reliance on US technology. But can Europe really catch up with the US in AI development?
I’ve been following this story, and I have to say, it’s a critical moment in the AI standoff between the two superpowers. With the US and EU negotiating a trade deal, Europe’s dependence on American AI suppliers has become a major bargaining chip. But experts warn that Europe’s reliance on US AI could be a major liability in future negotiations.
So, what’s Europe doing to bolster its own AI capabilities? Well, the European Commission, governments, and institutions are investing in home-grown AI research and development, providing funding, deregulation, and partnerships to encourage innovation. Some projects focus on creating large language models for European languages, like Apertus and GPT-NL. But let’s be real, it’s not going to be easy to catch up with the US. As AI researcher Nejdl points out, “These domains are often winner-takes-all. Not having the ability to produce state-of-the-art technology in this field means you’ll not catch up. You’ll always just feed the bigger players with your input, so they’ll get even better and you’ll be more behind.”
But what does Europe mean by “digital sovereignty”? Is it about complete self-sufficiency in the AI supply chain or just an improved presence in certain disciplines? And what about the role of US-based suppliers? “It’s quite vague,” says Computer & Communications Industry Association’s Boniface de Champris. “It seems to be more of a story at this stage.”
And let’s not forget the policy levers. There’s no broad agreement on which ones to pull to create the conditions for Europe to become self-sufficient. Some advocates suggest requiring or incentivizing European companies to buy from homegrown AI companies, like China’s approach to its home processor market. Others argue that trying to cut out US-based AI companies would put homegrown companies at a disadvantage compared to international competitors.
But despite the challenges, experts believe that bridging the performance gap is possible even for budget- and resource-constrained labs. Take DeepSeek, an open-source model development mission, for example. They’ve already demonstrated impressive results and aim to release a competitive language model with 100 billion parameters within the next year.
So, will Europe be able to catch up with the US in AI development? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain: the stakes are high, and the competition is fierce. But hey, as Nejdl says, “We’re not going to let the performance gap stop us. We’ll be the European DeepSeek.” Who knows what the future holds?
