Eurogroup chief: Europe must create right conditions so that next generation of global AI champions is born and remains here

Europe must create the right conditions, mobilise the necessary capital and enable its companies to achieve the scale to compete globally, so that the next generation of global AI champions is born, grows and remains in Europe, Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis said.

Pierrakakis, speaking after a July 9 Eurogroup discussion of the implications of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity for the financial sector, as well as the framework conditions needed to support the development of AI in Europe, said that AI “has the potential to rewrite the rules of the global economy”.

“Above all, it has the potential to raise productivity in our economies,” Pierrakakis said.

“And productivity is the foundation of long-term growth, competitiveness and prosperity, he said.

Pierrakakis said that AI will affect people’s lives, investment, the way businesses operate, together with labour markets, the financial system and, ultimately, the way growth is generated.

He said that the meeting had spoken with Arthur Mensch, Founder and CEO of Mistral, one of Europe’s leading AI companies.

“We discussed not only the implications of artificial intelligence for financial stability, but also the conditions Europe must create to ensure that the technologies of the future are developed here in Europe,” Pierrakakis said.

“Artificial intelligence can significantly strengthen our financial system by improving risk management, increasing the efficiency of financial services and enhancing our resilience against ever more sophisticated cyberattacks,” he said.

At the same time, however, those very capabilities can also be used maliciously, creating new vulnerabilities and new systemic risks, Pierrakakis said..

It is no coincidence that both the European Systemic Risk Board and the Single Supervisory Mechanism placed particular emphasis this week on the risks associated with frontier AI models, he said.

“But there is also, I would add, a deeper strategic dimension,” Pierrakakis said..

He said that AI is the technology that will shape competitiveness and economic power in the twenty-first century.

“Europe must create the right conditions, mobilise the necessary capital and enable its companies to achieve the scale to compete globally, so that the next generation of global AI champions is born, grows and remains here in Europe,” he said.