Europe races to close AI gap with the US
Europe races to close AI gap with the US
https://www.dw.com/en/can-europe-build-its-own-ai-heavyweights-to-rival-the-us/a-77629735
Publish Date: 2026-06-19 10:30:00
Source Domain: www.dw.com
Access to artificial intelligence (AI) models is not only a matter of economic autonomy but also of national security.
For any doubters, this was made clear in mid-June when Anthropic announced that, on US government orders, it would deny all foreign users access to its top AI software, citing national security concerns.
These AI models — Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 — are considered particularly effective at identifying vulnerabilities in software.
Germany, for one, must urgently catch up in artificial intelligence, says German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt.
In the current situation, it is essential to help shape technological innovation, he said. Otherwise, “you could very quickly end up among the victims,” he added, according to the German news agency dpa.
A Franco-German AI response
The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) told DW that initial efforts have already been agreed upon.
DFKI and its French partner Inria, a public research institute for computer science and automation, are about to sign an agreement to establish a Franco-German AI center.
Offices will be set up in Germany and France starting in July, with operational activities beginning by the fourth quarter of the year, according to DFKI spokesman Andreas Schepers.
Tech giant OpenAI heads for Wall Street
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One French player has already entered the race: Mistral AI, a French software company focused on artificial intelligence and a European leader in large language models.
By European standards, Mistral is a heavyweight. In September 2025, the company announced it had secured investments of around €1.7 billion ($2 billion at the time), valuing the company at nearly €12 billion.
Earlier, Dutch company ASML, the world’s largest supplier of the advanced machines used to print tiny circuits onto computer chips for the semiconductor industry, had…
