ECB's Lagarde: Europe must build its own AI or risk being cut off by US or China

nordicinst · x · 2026-09-15

ECB President Christine Lagarde warned in a Vienna speech that Europe must develop its own AI models and datacentres to neutralize the threat of being cut off by the US or China.

Key figures: the US produced 59 notable AI models last year, China 35, while France and the UK managed one each; the US hosts 75% of global AI computing capacity versus Europe's 5%.

She framed Europe's "awkward choice": hold back adoption over data concerns and forgo growth, or adopt fast, become highly dependent, and risk losing economic autonomy. Sufficiently good domestic models would defuse the cutoff threat.

Original post →

More from Safety

Safety channel →