Key facts
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will invite AI labs to discuss risks and industry efforts to slow development.
- Von der Leyen will call for international collaboration on testing and evaluating frontier AI models.
- The EU has recently adopted landmark rules governing the use of AI.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans to invite the main artificial intelligence companies to discuss industry efforts to impose a slowdown of AI development. The announcement is set to be made in her State of the European Union speech on Wednesday.
"I will invite the main frontier labs for a discussion on how we can support ongoing industry efforts to pace the frontier," von der Leyen is set to say, according to a draft of her speech seen by POLITICO. Her comments follow warnings from several top tech executives in the past week about the need to "pace the frontier" of AI development. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown on Saturday, with backing from xAI CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.
Von der Leyen is not expected to explicitly assess these calls but stated that Europe is ready to "support ongoing industry efforts." She will also advocate for international collaboration on testing and evaluating frontier AI models, extending invitations to the U.K. and Canada, though she did not mention the U.S. and China, who are considered frontrunners in AI development. POLITICO previously reported that the EU and Canada are closely aligned on AI, with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney scheduled to attend von der Leyen's speech.