Fraunhofer ICT Group
Can Europe do A.I.?
Worldwide, we are currently experiencing a phase of massive investments in artificial intelligence: The United States are forging ahead with its 500 billion dollar “Stargate” program and China has presented “DeepSeek”, a model that can possibly be trained much faster and more efficiently than comparable algorithms. More than once in recent weeks, the question has been asked where Germany and Europe stand in this technology, which is immanent for the digital transformation.
As early as the end of January 2025, political stakeholders, researchers and companies from Germany and France agreed in a dialog to make AI development in and for Europe more competitive, sovereign and sustainable.
In a call to action, the European states were called upon to take measures to strengthen digital sovereignty and competitiveness in the key technology of artificial intelligence.
But what exactly is the problem? Are we “left behind again”? Or should we use European strengths to avoid becoming dependent on the large non-European technology companies?
We asked Prof. Dr. Axel Müller-Groeling, the Fraunhofer Executive Board member responsible for research infrastructures and digital transformation, a number of detailed questions on this topic. In an interview with Alexander Nouak, executive director of the Fraunhofer ICT Group, he states that we in Europe should not despair when it comes to AI development, but that we still have some work to do to overcome the technological and economic hurdles.
In addition to financing issues, the discussion also covers the technological development expertise of European companies and organizations, the integration of AI technology into companies' value creation processes, and the question of regulation. In addition to his precise analysis, Axel Müller-Groeling also has some surprising suggestions on how Europe can take better action in the field of artificial intelligence.
Watch the full interview here (and turn on English captions):
