The geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence: is a European third way viable?
- The Paris Summit and the regularisation of AI
- Lack of international consensus
- Impact on technological investment
- Consequences and challenges of AI
It has only taken two years and four months since ChatGPT was released for the idea to have sunk in that nothing will ever be the same again.
The development of Artificial Intelligence, comparable only to the impact of the emergence of the Internet, has sparked a new technological race between the United States and China. Europe, with France at the forefront, is also looking to get a foothold in this race.
The Paris Summit and the regularisation of AI
The AI Summit in Paris brought together leaders from more than 60 countries, including France, China, India, Japan, Australia and Canada, with the aim of establishing a regulatory framework for Artificial Intelligence.
Faced with Washington's infinite economic capacity and the birth of the Chinese Artificial Intelligence DeepSeek, France wants to be the leader of the European project with the launch of Current AI. An application that aims to show that ethics and democracy go perfectly with technological development.
Concern about the potential dangers of AI has increased after the belligerent overtones it has been acquiring in recent weeks, especially since the arrival of Donald Trump as US President and the birth of the Chinese chatbot, DeepSeek. It must be taken into account that the use and development of Artificial Intelligence is increasingly related to defence and war. For this reason, Europe hopes that innovation will serve to prevent AI from being used for cyberattacks, mass surveillance and information manipulation.
The event served as a key opportunity for world leaders to establish common rules for managing the risks of Artificial Intelligence without holding back innovation.
Lack of international consensus
However, while the European Union (EU), with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Emmanuel Macron, President of France, at the helm, together with the support of other Western powers such as Japan, Australia and Canada, is standing firm in the creation of stricter regulation, the lack of consensus in the United States and the United Kingdom continues to weaken the possibility of developing global regulation.
The Americans justified their rejection by claiming that strict regulation would slow down innovation in Western industry without affecting China, implying that the Asian giant would not respect the rules, even though non-compliance could lead to sanctions of all kinds. In contrast, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would only join initiatives that directly affected his country.
For his part, JD. Vance, vice-president of the United States, hinted that the European Union was cooperating with China, which further motivated the Americans to reject the regulatory proposals. Vance also criticised the European bloc's alleged cooperation with authoritarian regimes, implying that China could use AI for espionage and state control.
‘Now, we face the extraordinary prospect of a new industrial revolution, comparable with the invention of the steam engine, but that will never happen if excessive regulation deters innovators from taking the risks necessary to move forward,’ the US vice-president declared.
Impact on technological investment
Artificial Intelligence is transforming investment in technology on a global level, which has led to the Old Continent announcing an investment of 200 billion euros in AI infrastructure, with the aim of competing with the Americans and the Chinese.
This investment is divided into: 50 billion euros in public funding to accelerate the development of AI infrastructure; and 150 billion euros in private investment, committed by large companies such as Airbus, ASML, Siemens, Infineon, Philips, Mistral and Volkswagen.
However, these figures are nowhere near the $500 billion that the United States is going to invest, although they do compare with Beijing's capacity. In fact, US power is such that the EU's investment is only double the offer made by Elon Musk, CEO of Space X, Tesla and X, to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for the acquisition of ChatGPT.
With the regulatory agreement, the EU sought to develop ‘AI superfactories’ and advanced data centres to serve as an engine for growth and tool development. On the other hand, the lack of agreements reflected certain doubts as to whether the funds and financing that Europe will allocate will be enough to gain a foothold in a market where competition is extremely high and where its competitors have a great advantage.
Consequences and challenges of AI
Despite the rejection of the United States and the United Kingdom, the Union has already sown the first seed in terms of Artificial Intelligence law. As a consequence of this lack of global consensus, European companies may be left behind by their American and Chinese counterparts, as they would operate with far fewer restrictions.
In this regard, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, made reference to this, pointing out that ‘Europe is not lagging behind and losing the AI race, but is committed to a development that focuses on a balanced approach that guarantees innovation and, above all, security’.
The challenges, however, are still a big question mark. The lack of agreements will result in greater fragmentation in regulations, which could increase trade barriers; it will intensify competition, which can lead to malpractice and will have a full impact on global industry, forcing adaptation. So much so that 80% of banks already use AI to optimise their internal processes.