๐ ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ผ๐ณ๐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ป๐ฎฬ๐ฐ๐ต๐๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฒ ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ด๐ฌ ๐ ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐จ๐ฆ-๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ฬ๐ฟ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐!
A single private company thus invests around 250 times as much money in 6 months as the entire European Horizon program for AI funding, which has been running for years.
In an interview(https://www.zeit.de/digital/2025-01/kuenstliche-intelligenz-ki-microsoft-investitionen), Microsoft Vice President Brad Smith said two things that give me pause for thought:
“๐๐ฏ ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ช ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ถฬ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ป ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ต๐ขฬ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ก๐ฆ๐ช๐ต, ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ขฬ๐ค๐ฉ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฐฬ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถฬ๐ณ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฌ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐จ ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ขฬ๐ค๐ฉ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ”
“๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ต๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ขฬ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ต๐ฆ […] ๐ธ๐ช๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ง ๐ป๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ฉ๐ณ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ต”
As dramatic and sobering as I find this from a European perspective, I have to agree with him. The next few months (in my opinion months, not years) are crucial for laying the foundations for technological leadership in the coming decades. And I currently only see the private sector (and possibly China) in a position to make these investments in the short term.
Governments, countries and economic areas are too slow and too sluggish for this.
๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐, ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ต๐น๐ฬ๐๐๐ฒ๐น๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ป๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ด๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฬ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐๐ธ๐๐ป๐ณ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ (๐ท๐ฎ, ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐๐ถ๐ด ๐ด๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป) ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ณ๐๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐น๐ถ๐ฒ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป!
With its dependence on Space-X’s private Starlink Internet, Ukraine is already experiencing what it can mean when states privatize their infrastructure. It will be similar with AI.
Nevertheless, Europe is one of the most important economic areas in the world with many people, clever minds and shared values. We need to develop these qualities in a targeted manner:
1. ๐๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: Training bright minds to develop applications based on AI
2. ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐: Create values and awareness in society, educate
3. ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ด๐ด๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: Establish rules and framework conditions that protect data and rights
In this way, we as Europeans can become pioneers of responsible, safe AI applications based on a common understanding of values.
We should not see this as a defeat against Big Tech, but as an opportunity!
