Seán Kelly: Europe must be an AI player, not a customer
MEP Seán Kelly sets out his view on Europe's AI strategy, arguing for adoption, sovereign computing and a stable regulatory environment to protect competitiveness and cyber security. He warns against pouring public money into a single frontier model and highlights geopolitical risks underscored by the ban of Anthropic's Mitas model.
Seán Kelly argues that AI is here to stay and will shape European competitiveness and cyber security for years. He says it would be naive for Europe to remain mere customers of foreign models and calls for a strategic shift toward being players.
Kelly points to President Trump's decision to ban Anthropic's Mitas model as evidence of the geopolitical weight of AI. He recalls how Europe was punished in 2022 because of dependency on Russian gas and warns that data dependency could create similar vulnerabilities.
Rather than investing vast public sums to build a dominant frontier AI model - which he calls expensive and likely futile - Kelly advocates focusing on sectoral adoption, investing in European sovereign computing power, and creating a stable regulatory and investment climate to attract and integrate leading models on Europe's terms.
Kelly frames this approach as a route to competitiveness, cyber security for critical services, and resilience against worst-case scenarios. The aim is clear: Europe must be a player in AI, not a passive customer.
Key argument
Seán Kelly argues that AI is here to stay and will shape European competitiveness and cyber security for years. He says it would be naive for Europe to remain mere customers of foreign models and calls for a strategic shift toward being players.
Geopolitical risk
Kelly points to President Trump's decision to ban Anthropic's Mitas model as evidence of the geopolitical weight of AI. He recalls how Europe was punished in 2022 because of dependency on Russian gas and warns that data dependency could create similar vulnerabilities.
Alternative approach
Rather than investing vast public sums to build a dominant frontier AI model - which he calls expensive and likely futile - Kelly advocates focusing on sectoral adoption, investing in European sovereign computing power, and creating a stable regulatory and investment climate to attract and integrate leading models on Europe's terms.
Consequences and purpose
Kelly frames this approach as a route to competitiveness, cyber security for critical services, and resilience against worst-case scenarios. The aim is clear: Europe must be a player in AI, not a passive customer.
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Transcript
Whether we like it or not, AI is here to stay. AI will define our competitiveness in cyber security for years to come, and it would be naive to simply be AI customers. President Trump's decision to ban Anthropic's powerful Mitas model underlines the geopolitical importance of this technology. We were punished in 2022 because of our dependency on Russian gas. If data is the new aisle, we cannot allow ourselves to be punished again. Some promote investing vast amounts of European public money in the race to build a dominant frontier AI model. Yet this would be hugely expensive and likely futile. Instead, we should focus on adoption in key sectors, investing in European sovereign computing power, and providing a stable and welcoming regulatory and investment environment to attract and integrate the leading models on our terms. This will give us competitiveness, cyber security for our critical services, and resilience, limiting the danger of worst-case scenarios. We need to be players, not customers.