Europe has the potential to become one of the leading AI continents, and the European Commission will do its part to make it happen.
This was the message of President Ursula von der Leyen this morning at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit organised in Paris, where she delivered a speech to political leaders and AI entrepreneurs from around the world.
President von der Leyen announced the InvestAI initiative, which will aim to mobilise €200 billion for AI investments in Europe along with the European AI Champions Initiative presented by European companies and investors working together in the margins of the summit.
The President also said that the EU will set up AI Gigafactories, which will follow the working model of the CERN in Geneva: "CERN hosts the largest particle accelerator in the world. And it allows the best and the brightest minds in the world to work together. We want the same to happen in our AI Gigafactories. We provide the infrastructure for large computational power. Researchers, entrepreneurs and investors will be able to join forces. Talents of the world are welcome. Industries will be able to collaborate and federate their data.," she said.
The AI Gigafactories will build on the successful action taken in the last months to put Europe's supercomputing power at the service of start-ups and scientists: "In just a few months we have set up a record of 12 AI factories. And we are investing €10 billion in them. This is not a promise – it is happening right now, and it is the largest public investment for AI in the world, which will unlock over ten times more private investment," the President stated.
All this is inscribed within what the President called "Europe's distinctive approach to AI", characterised by its cooperative nature, its preference for open source, which can spread much faster, and its use of Europe's unique industrial and manufactural data, and know-how.
Highlighting the cooperative aspect of Europe's approach to AI, President von der Leyen ended her speech pointing out to the benefits of AI beyond Europe, especially in the Global South: "AI can be a gift to humanity. But we must make sure that benefits are widespread and accessible to all. We want AI to be a force for good. We want an AI where everyone collaborates and everyone benefits," the President concluded.
