Key facts
- European AI firms, including Mistral, are skeptical of US calls to slow AI development.
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged advanced AI developers to slow down and coordinate on safety measures.
- Mistral AI accused US rivals of using safety concerns to consolidate market positions.
- French finance minister Roland Lescure views calls to slow AI development as self-serving.
- Germany's digital affairs ministry stated that halting AI development is unrealistic for Europe's digital sovereignty.
- King Charles hosted a summit on AI risks in Scotland.
European AI companies, led by Mistral, have voiced skepticism regarding calls from US counterparts, such as Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei, to slow down the pace of advanced AI development. Amodei, in an online essay, urged firms to voluntarily coordinate on safety standards and submit to oversight by embedded evaluators, arguing that AI is advancing faster than governments can regulate. However, European firms and officials perceive these calls as self-serving attempts by dominant US players to entrench their market positions and maintain a dependency on their services.
Mistral AI stated that some incumbents are pushing for regulations that favor them over competitors, noting that the risks of AI have been clear for months. Raphael Auphan, chief operating officer of Swiss privacy software company Proton, echoed this sentiment, calling the moves "totally self-serving." Ben Brooks, head of public policy at German AI startup Black Forest Labs, warned that enforcing gaps between large labs and new entrants could stifle open innovation.
Clement Delangue, CEO of Hugging Face, advocated for acceleration rather than a slowdown, though he endorsed Amodei's proposal for independent evaluators within AI companies. European policymakers, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, emphasized the EU's regulatory framework for AI. French finance minister Roland Lescure explicitly stated that the calls to slow down were driven by self-interest to maintain a competitive lead. Germany's digital affairs ministry and Daniel Abbou, head of Germany's AI industry association, stressed the importance of Europe closing its technological gap and pursuing digital sovereignty rather than halting development.