The race to develop AI expertise has sharpened geopolitical rivalries as Europe scrambles to keep up with heavy investment in the new technological frontier by US and Chinese rivals. Policymakers have echoed the view that they see AI development as a matter of sovereignty.
In June, the then four-week-old French start-up Mistral raised €105 million in Europe’s largest seed round to build its own AI software to rival Silicon Valley companies such as OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind. French president Emmanuel Macron announced €500 million in new funding that same month, to bolster French generative AI projects and the open-source movement.
“It is no surprise that those who are likely to be the big winners from AI – Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet etc – have the deepest pockets and best expertise,” he said.