Europe is largely absent from the global artificial intelligence safety debate, despite the technology potentially affecting the continent significantly. Christine Lagarde, head of the European Central Bank, framed Europe's dilemma starkly this week: the continent can either reject AI and lose economic growth, or embrace it and become dependent on tools developed by the United States and China. European leaders including Ursula von der Leyen and Margrethe Vestager have attempted to amplify Europe's voice in the safety discussion, but their efforts have been overshadowed by the US and China's rejection of calls for a slowdown in AI development.

Europe's weak position in the debate stems from its failure to produce major AI companies comparable to OpenAI, Anthropic, or Nvidia, despite being a regulatory powerhouse with the EU AI Act. Lagarde and Vestager argue that Europe must develop its own AI technology and build additional datacentres to achieve self-sufficiency and avoid potential technological isolation. Vestager's report, "A Transformative AI Strategy for Europe," echoes warnings that Europeans already bear the economic consequences of decisions made elsewhere, and emphasises that the continent must build resilience to withstand AI crises, whilst some experts note that reversing Europe's dependence on US technology in search, chips, and datacentres will prove difficult.