Europe must become a producer of artificial intelligence technologies — partly in order to preserve its own autonomy and achieve the productivity gains needed to maintain its accustomed way of life. This was stated on Monday by European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde, UNN reports.
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European companies are investing in artificial intelligence (AI), but for the most part they import these technologies from abroad, particularly from the United States. This makes them vulnerable if access to the technologies is cut off and potentially puts every sector of the economy at risk.
"Within just a few years, AI will inspect goods at the border, determine which tax returns are subject to audit, manage train traffic, monitor patients in hospitals, and process bank payments," Lagarde said during a speech in Vienna.
"Losing access or changing the terms under which it is provided will immediately affect all sectors," she added. "This is a lever of influence that no trading partner has ever had over Europe; it can be used in any negotiations — for example, over tariffs or taxes on digital services."
Although the EU and the United States are key allies, trust between them has recently been undermined by a number of issues, such as tariffs, U.S. demands to acquire Greenland, and the withdrawal of American troops from Europe due to political differences.
The way out of this situation lies in building up Europe's own computing capacity, she said.
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If implemented quickly, AI could increase productivity by 4% over the course of a decade, which would have a transformative effect on public finances, Lagarde stressed.
"Europe already has insufficient data-center capacity to meet its own needs, and according to current forecasts, this shortfall will grow more than sixfold over the course of a decade," Lagarde said.
In addition, Europe needs models that would be "good enough" to perform most tasks and operate on European infrastructure; this would eliminate the threat of being cut off from the technology, she added.
Lagarde noted that Europe is already paying for these technologies, so it should make greater efforts to master them.
The investment needs of American technology companies are so great that they are raising some of the funds in Europe, increasing borrowing costs for all other market participants and crowding them out of the debt capital market. European pension funds are also actively investing in shares of American technology companies, so any market correction would affect European savings, she added.