Over the past half a century Europe’s become a specialist in drafting rules for tech, climate, and digital markets, but when it comes to producing world-leading companies, it’s lagging behind.
And this is really showing with AI - which is nowhere in the EU, most of the innovation coming from other parts of the world - mostly America.
Meanwhile the EU seems more concerned with regulating tech rather than creasing it!
Of course not all regulations are bad. Consumer protections, anti-monopoly laws, environmental standards all have their place and most people want some level of oversight where tech companies are concerned.
But the EU does have this tendency towards overregulation and there's a risk that the EU might end up becoming an “economic vassal” to Washington, hooked on American cloud services, AI platforms, and digital infrastructure.
But it isn’t just about regulation. Europe’s deeper issue is its attitude toward risk and innovation.
In the US, venture capital is keen and universities work closely with business. Europe is much more cautious... they are much more likely to scupper high risk projects.
And AI isn’t just business as usual. It’s becoming the backbone of productivity, defense, finance, healthcare, education. Whoever controls AI will shape a lot of what happens in the world for years.
Europe might have to rethink its approach to regulation or risk getting left behind....