Europe facing unprecedented risk of being cut off from AI, Lagarde warns

Europe must become a producer of artificial intelligence technology, partly to preserve its own autonomy and achieve the efficiency gains needed to maintain its way of living, ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Monday.

European firms have been investing in AI but mostly importing the technology from overseas, especially the United States, leaving them vulnerable in case access is cut and ‌potentially jeopardizing ⁠every sector.

“Within ⁠a few years (AI) will be screening goods at the border, deciding which tax returns are audited, dispatching ​trains, watching patients on wards and clearing payments at banks,” Lagarde said in a speech in ​Vienna.