French technology Xavier Nir warns that if this important opportunity is missed, Europe will be reduced to a “abandoned” continent
If there was something lively in the world of technology, it could have been that Xavier Neil was caught in the wind. The hacker-turned-door family owns a vast communications empire, sits on a five-person board of Tiktok’s parent bytedance, a leading startup champion and counts among the investments by French Darling Mistral AI.
The billionaire has been keenly looking at technology development throughout his career. However, he also witnessed Europe slipping behind the US and China. innovation.
Europe has produced several promising startups amid a generative AI frenzy, including Mistral AI and Aleph Alpha. However, the region has to do more to keep up with the global AI race.
Neil warns that Europe has a real shot at showing its promise and creativity on the AI front. But if it misses the boat, it may become unrelated.
“If Europe doesn’t do this right, it’s going to be a very small continent for several generations,” he said. Financial Times In an interview released in November.
Neil said that European AI startups distinguish “values” such as privacy and transparency. That too Generate University engineering and mathematics-focused talent can give the community an edge if they move quickly and break things.
“It’s true, the world moves faster than it is now. The resources are bigger. But somewhere in the world, there are two smart kids, working in the garage, with technical visions and new ideas, and always have two smart kids,” Neal said.
The French mogul, estimated to be worth $8.7 billion, is at the heart of AI development, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. His optimism in European AI capabilities led him to develop the world’s largest startup incubator in Paris. Invested $300 million Along with Eric Schmidt and Rodolph Saade, at the non-profit AI Research Institute.
Still, he worries that if Europe doesn’t ride the waves of AI, it will be reduced to “the nicest place in the museum world.” Wired September. He compared the current AI moment until the time when search engines became mainstream. Today they are run primarily by American players such as Google and Microsoft Bing.
“If you want to create a search engine from scratch right now, you can’t win because you weren’t there 25 years ago,” he said.
Other experts are also worried about Europe’s backwards and how to do it It may have an impact The security and defense outlook for this region is compared to other parts of the world.
What Neil touted as one of Europe’s strengths also led to the perception that it would tweak AI too tightly and push competitors out of the market. The European Union has passed the first summary draft of AI rules.
in Detailed report For Europe’s competitiveness, former ECB president Mario Draghi emphasized that if AI is deployed correctly, new opportunities can be opened.
Meanwhile, Christian Klein, CEO of German high-tech company SAP, said overregulation Retention risk European startups are back. Something like Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Daniel Ek of Spotfie have published open letters September Reflecting similar concerns, it urges Europe to revise “inconsistent, infragmented” regulations regarding AI.
Ranking the largest companies in the region by revenue, the Fortune 500 European List companies are slowly and reliably integrating AI into advanced applications. Ultimately, European strategies to address the challenge can determine whether it is a winner or a loser.
“Simply put, developing, launching or using technology is more difficult in Europe than elsewhere in the world. To stay in a global race, the EU needs a new approach. We need to reduce the risks of new technology while enabling innovation,” says Matt Brittin, president of EMEA at Google. I said luck October.
The original version of this story Fortune.com November 18, 2024.
This story was originally introduced Fortune.com