The European Union is making bold strides in the field of artificial intelligence, as articulated by its president, Ursula von der Leyen, during her speech at the AI Action Summit in Paris on Monday. The EU aims to revolutionize its approach to supporting AI infrastructure, looking to establish "AI Gigafactories" designed to train very large models. This initiative signifies a shift from the current model, which President von der Leyen believes is insufficient for the bloc's ambitions.
The EU is under increasing pressure to respond to the global AI compute race. Von der Leyen highlighted the necessity for a collaborative effort, emphasizing that the private sector's involvement is crucial for scaling up compute capacity. She stated, “For AI, we need the private sector to be fully involved in our gigafactories. And we need more capital to make it happen.” This call to action underscores the EU's commitment to fostering an environment conducive to frontier innovation in AI.
Despite current efforts to establish talent and computing hubs, von der Leyen stressed that more needs to be done. The European Union seeks to expand its model of open cooperation, enabling developers to scale their innovations effectively. This collaborative approach extends to intellectual property (IP) development, focusing on pooling and sharing knowledge across Member States for the public good. The EU aims to attract capital for the next phase of AI infrastructure by taking a cooperative stance on IP development.
Von der Leyen elaborated on the potential of AI Gigafactories, explaining, “As AI requires massive computational capacity, the next step will be to launch AI Gigafactories. Very large data and computing infrastructures to train very large models. Similar projects have also been announced in the US, by leading AI players. But with our European Gigafactories, computational power won’t be a monopoly of a few. It will be a service accessible to all.” This vision includes allowing industries to cooperate and federate their data, as well as hospitals safely training models based on images and genomic data they own.
The EU's approach aims to create unprecedented advances not only in AI but also in basic science and climate modeling. The planned AI Gigafactories are expected to be open for the best talents, fostering an inclusive environment for innovation. This move aligns with recent developments in other regions, such as the U.S.-based Stargate project, which has pledged up to $500 billion over four years to build out data center infrastructure.
In addition to these efforts, France has unveiled a private sector AI investment package totaling approximately $112 billion. This investment signifies a robust commitment from EU Member States toward enhancing their AI capabilities and competitiveness on the global stage.
Leave a Reply