The key facts

  • The EU presented the 'Dublin Declaration' with commitments to invest in infrastructure and finance European AI companies
  • The EU holds ~5% of global AI computing capacity versus ~75% for the US; of the leading labs only France's Mistral is close
  • The European Commission launched the first AI Act enforcement measures, requesting safety data from developers of advanced models

Dublin summit: a course toward 'sovereign and trustworthy' AI

An international summit on artificial intelligence was held in Dublin, convened by the Irish government as part of the country's six-month presidency of the EU Council. The event's motto was 'Harnessing AI to revolutionise Europe's competitiveness.' It was attended by leaders of the technology and AI industries, Irish and European politicians, who spoke about AI's transformative economic and social potential while emphasizing the need for strong regulation and safety standards.

Draghi: falling behind on AI would be catastrophic

Former ECB President Mario Draghi, whose 2024 report pointed to the need for innovation for EU competitiveness, recently called AI 'perhaps the most promising' path to growth for the European Union, but lamented that the bloc controls a small share of the value chain. In a column for the Financial Times he wrote that being cut off from AI when the economy runs on it would be 'akin to being disconnected from the US financial system,' and the consequences would be 'catastrophic.'

Ireland's premier: balancing innovation and safety

Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Ireland fully supports AI development, echoing a recent assessment by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who called the technology a 'turning point.' 'We are determined to reap the dividends while mitigating the risks,' Martin said. 'In Europe we have charted our own path... balancing innovation and opportunity with a trustworthy, human-centred approach to AI.'

First AI Act measures and critics' discontent

European Commission Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty Henna Virkkunen told the summit that the EU has begun the first enforcement measures under the new AI Act, requesting safety information from developers of advanced AI models. Meanwhile, the topics that concern AI critics — the environmental impact of data centers and potential job losses — were virtually absent from the discussions. Outside the venue, protesters led by the left-wing 'People Before Profit' criticized the summit. Protest organizer Alexandra Day told DW: 'The line is deliberately blurred here with the type of AI being promoted. It really is being imposed on workers almost without consent. Workers have no right to opt out of using AI, now that it is coming into the workplace.'

The gap with the US and China is widening

Despite expanding data center capacity, the EU lags far behind: it accounts for 5% of global AI computing capacity versus roughly 75% for the US. The European Union is absent from the lists of leading 'frontier' labs — only France's Mistral is approaching the leaders — and advanced chip manufacturing is far behind the US and Taiwan. To close the gap, the Irish government presented the 'Dublin Declaration' with political commitments to strengthen Europe's AI capabilities, including investment in infrastructure and financial support for European AI companies. In the spirit of Draghi's calls for sovereignty, the document suggests that European companies dependent on non-EU cloud and computing services may face additional compliance requirements.

Business skepticism: Ryanair against heavy regulation

Not everyone is convinced of the EU's ability to build capacity and craft effective regulation. Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson doubted that Brussels could regulate AI without stifling innovation: 'The last thing you need is people regulating an industry who don't understand it. That's usually what happens in Brussels.' Ryanair recently struck a major deal with Google to use its cloud system and the Gemini Enterprise AI platform — that is, cooperation with American AI supply chains, which the EU is urging companies to abandon. 'I worry about Europe, because these technology companies need to move fast,' Wilson said. 'If they don't do it here, they'll do it somewhere else — in China or the US.'