Lagarde Calls for Faster AI Adoption to Drive European Growth

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has called for increased adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe, citing its potential to drive economic growth and overcome challenges posed by an aging workforce.

In a speech delivered on September 14 in Vienna, Lagarde emphasized the need for the EU to catch up with the US in AI investment and usage, which she noted is already happening at a faster pace than the integration of the internet.

Lagarde highlighted three vulnerabilities to European digital sovereignty: ensuring control over data, autonomous access to AI, and accessing the best models. She warned that Europe has an 'awkward choice' between forgoing AI adoption and economic growth or adopting it rapidly and developing a dependence on foreign actors that threatens its strategic autonomy.

To address these challenges, Lagarde called for increased investment in data centre capacity to close the gap with computing demands, which are expected to grow more than sixfold within a decade. She also highlighted emerging AI firms like Mistral AI and hardware actors like ASML as key players in Europe's AI strategies.