Europe struggles for influence in AI safety debate

Europe’s position on AI has been framed by Christine Lagarde as a difficult choice between missing out on growth or becoming reliant on tools built in the US and China. The continent remains influential in regulation, but its lack of a Silicon Valley-scale AI company has reduced its role in the highest-level safety debate, where decisions by Washington and Beijing carry decisive weight.

Ursula von der Leyen said she would invite major frontier labs to discuss support for efforts to pace AI development, but calls for restraint have gained little traction without US or Chinese backing. Lagarde argued that Europe needs its own AI technology and more datacentres to reduce the risk of being cut off from critical systems.

Margrethe Vestager has also urged Europe to build domestic AI capacity while pointing to the EU AI Act as evidence that the bloc has a voice on safety through rules for high-risk systems, incident reporting and risk management. Policy experts warned, however, that the doomsday framing may push Europe toward deeper dependence on US models and infrastructure, even as many companies remain wary of frontier systems because of costs and data concerns.