The message that the West must lead the technological race against global competition was delivered from the podium of the G7 summit by Ursula von der Leyen.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasized during the G7 summit that “Europe and the United States must become strong partners in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI),” emphasizing that their cooperation is critical to the security and economic sovereignty of the Western world. 

“Together, we account for 70% of the global market and share common security interests,” she noted.

The President of the European Commission set out three priorities for strengthening EU-U.S. cooperation:

1. Deeper cooperation in critical sectors, so that both sides can lead the adoption of AI in healthcare and industry, with the best laboratories working together.

2. Preparing for a new era, as he noted, “the world must be ready for an era where machines will be better at almost everything,” emphasizing the need to protect against malicious designers and to ensure that our technology powers robots and drones.

3. Legal frameworks and voluntary controls, given that the U.S. has tasked the Secretary of Commerce with leading voluntary controls on new AI models, while the EU has similar goals and legal safeguards. “We need our citizens and companies to be able to safely use the best AI models,” she emphasized.

Technological Sovereignty and AI Gigafactories

Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU plans to create AI Gigafactories, as part of public infrastructure for training AI models, in order to keep innovative startups within the EU. “We are not seeking isolation, but we want to collaborate with trusted partners while simultaneously developing our own capabilities,” she said.

This strategy will cover not only AI, but also semiconductor manufacturing, cloud services, and other strategic digital technologies.

Global Leadership and Security

Ms. von der Leyen compared the challenges of the TN to those of aviation, saying “We test airplanes before we fly them. The U.S. and the EU are global leaders in aviation security, and we can lead the way in the digital age as well.”.

She also he emphasized the need to protect citizens and companies from malicious acts, stating, “We are ready to deepen our cooperation in the TN and to invest together.”