Giants and technology startups unite their strengths to call for simpler EU rules on AI, data
While the AI summit started in Paris on Monday, sixty European companies – industrial giants in exercise at AI startups (including the LLM manufacturer of France Mistral) – has entered an initiative to help to establish Europe as the leader of AI. But the fact that they felt the need to register at all underlines the idea widely considered that Europe is not close to being an AI leader in current circumstances.
THE ‘EU AI Initiative Champions‘will be revealed at the Élysée as part of the Summit Ai Action in ParisOrganized by French President Emmanuel Macron. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, should also join the discussion. Heads of state will also be present from various European governments, notably in Germany, Poland and Ireland – but not American or the United Kingdom.
Perhaps counter-teethe, the initiative is led by the European branch of an American VC, General catalystMotivated by the idea that the European approach of AI was too complicated and driven by regulations.
Jeannette Zu Fürstenberg, Managing Director and Head of Europe at General Catalyst, told Techcrunch that companies and established startups have met to “look at the adoption of AI”.
“This is a huge opportunity for the European technological ecosystem,” she continued. “We want to speed up a functional” steering wheel “between innovators, startups and AI adopters.”
She said that the initiative will engage with the Commission “in a structural process on how we can deregulate”, suggesting: “At the moment, there is a lot of conflict between the Data governance law, Specific regulations for the vertical sectors, say the telecommunications industry or the banking sector … as well as the You have a document And then the horizontal nature of this. None of this is standardized. »»
The President of the EU has rationalized the Bloc rules to promote IA innovation A declared mission of his second termWith a European innovation law provided – that it wishes to include measures to reduce administrative formalities on AI developers, as well as support for more explicit ecosystems (such as access to financing).
“There are three different regulatory entities which are often conflict with each other, for example, and for the banking sector or the financial services sector. This slows the real adoption of AI, “said Zu Fürstenberg.
When asked if she thought that the EU champions were effectively criticized the block, she said: “They gave us a big signal that they really want to support us and want to get involved. A large part of the conflict that we are currently experiencing is not intended. We therefore bring together regulators with people who are really on the ground. »»
In a statement of support, Arthur Mensch, co-founder and CEO of Mistral AI, wrote: “The EU champions initiative arrives at a central time for business leaders to position Europe at the point of AI and transform our economy. The time of the debate and the small -scale pilots is over. It is now crucial for European decision -makers, industry leaders and startups to fully exploit the potential of AI. »»
Christophe Fouquet, President and CEO of the ASML flea manufacturer, also proposed canned comments, writing: “At ASML, we believe that advanced AI, combined with the world class innovation ecosystem In Europe, the next era of technological progress will stimulate. The EU AI champions initiative represents an important step in the Union The industry leaders to ensure that Europe remains at the forefront of AI progress. »»
In another statement, Robin Rombach, co-founder, Black Forest Labs, added: “As a startup whose headquarters is German, creating frontier AI Foundation models, Black Forest Labs has shown that Europe is a world leader the development of ia frontier technology. We believe in Europe’s ability to continue to be a world leader in AI and support initiatives that accelerate European efforts in open innovation and advanced technology. »»
As part of its initiative, General Catalyst has published a report entitled: “an ambitious program for European AI” This suggests that the adoption of a generative AI could increase the annual productivity of Europe up to 3% by 2030.
Commenting Techcrunch, Steve Schlenker, DN Capital partner in London, told us: “A successful AI strategy in Europe is less a matter of regulation for regulation, more to guarantee that the EU average citizen sees an improvement in their lives. “
Ziv Reichert, associated with Phoenix Court, who houses local and latitude funds, also said: “The EU IA champions initiative is based on discussions that have long been held at national levels and business. As an investor at the start of the stadium, I am more and more concerned with the fact that the founders and startups are left behind in these conversations – especially since the change accelerates. »»
