If there is something burst in the world of technology, it is likely that Xavier Niel was windy. The pirate who has become the entrepreneur has a sprawling telecommunications empire is on the board of directors of Tiktok Parent bytedance, and is a great startup champion, counting the French darling Mistral IA among his investments.
The billionaire had an eye on technological developments throughout his career. But he also saw Europe slip behind the United States and China in innovation.
Europe has produced promising startups in the middle of the generative IA frenzy, such as Mistral AI and Aleph Alpha. However, the region will have to do much more to follow the AI global race.
Niel warns that Europe has a real chance to show its promise and its creativity on the AI front. But if the boat is missing, it could stop being relevant.
“If Europe does not do it properly, it will become a very small abandoned continent for a few generations,” he told Financial time In an interview published in November.
What differentiates European AI startups are their “values”, such as privacy and transparency, said Niel. This also generates engineering talents and focused on mathematics in its universities, which could give the region an advantage – if it moves quickly and breaks things, as the proverb says.
“Of course, the world moves faster now; the resources are larger. But there will always be two intelligent children somewhere in the world, working in a garage, with a technological vision or a new idea,” said Niel.
The French magnate, which is estimated at $ 8.7 billion according to the billionaire Bloomberg index, is at the center of AI developments. His optimism in the prowess of AI of Europe led him to develop the largest startup incubator in the world in Paris, Station F. He also set up $ 300 million in a non -profit research laboratory alongside Eric Schmidt and Rodolphe Saadé.
However, he fears that if Europe fails to overcome the AI wave, it will be reduced to “the most beautiful place in the world for museums,” said Nie Cable in September. He compared the current moment of AI as the search engines became current. Today, they are widely directed by American players, such as Google and Microsoft Bing.
“If you want to create a search engine now from zero, you cannot win because you were not there 25 years ago,” he said.
Other experts have also been concerned about Europe hanging behind and how it could have an impact on the region’s security and defense prospects compared to the rest of the world.
What Niel boasts as one of the forces of Europe has also led to the perception which it regulates the AI too hard, pushing the competitors outside its market. The European Union has adopted a first draft AI rules, which some consider a revision while others think that it is restrictive.
In a in -depth report In the competitiveness of Europe, the former president of the ECB, Mario Draghi, stressed that the AI could open new opportunities if it was deployed correctly.
Meanwhile, the CEO of the German SAP Technology Society, Christian Klein Risks European startups back. The tastes of Mark Zuckerberg de Meta and Daniel Ek of Spotify published an open letter in September echoing similar concerns, urging Europe to fix its “fragmented and inconsistent” regulations on the AI.
The companies on the Europe of Fortune 500 list, which classifies the largest companies in the region by income, slowly but surely integrate AI into advanced applications. In the end, Europe’s strategy to meet the challenges could determine whether it is a winner or a loser.
“In simple terms, developing, launching or simply using technology is more difficult in Europe than anywhere else in the world. To stay in the global race, the EU needs a new approach: to reduce the risks of new technology while allowing innovation,” said President Emea de Google, Matt Britin, Fortune in October.
A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com November 18, 2024.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
