From ambition to action: seizing Europe's AI opportunity

Editor’s note: This week, Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs for Google and Alphabet, delivered opening remarks to Politico’s Competitive Europe Summit. Below is a transcript of his remarks, as written.

Thank you. It’s great to be back in Brussels.

In the year since I was last here, a lot has changed — in technology, in geopolitics, and in the conversation about Europe's future.

At the center of this change is the remarkable opportunity of AI — what philosophers and economists call an “invention of a method of invention” — a tool that changes how we make breakthroughs.

Like the compound microscope, which accelerated progress across chemistry and biology by revealing hidden structures, AI will provide a new lens for scientific progress. Like coal, steam power, the internet, and other general-purpose technologies, it will reshape nearly every aspect of our lives.

And beyond that: AI will define the future of geopolitical leadership, supporting not just technological and economic leadership but the security of Europe in a multipolar world.

It’s no wonder in her recent State of the Union speech, President von der Leyen said getting AI right would be essential for the continent.

She is right.

With widespread AI adoption, the EU could boost its GDP by over €1.2 trillion.

And as we outline in our new AI Innovation Opportunity Report, by accelerating existing innovation efforts, the EU could unlock an additional €450 Billion.

That’s a lot of upside.

But this kind of acceleration requires deliberate action and strong partnerships — between governments and companies as well as international cooperation.

I can tell you from personal experience that when I speak with policymakers and business leaders in Asia, in emerging markets, and certainly in the United States, there is an urgency to be at the forefront of AI adoption.

And while I hear similar sentiments here in Europe, as it stands, there is a gap between Europe's bold ambitions for AI leadership and its current actions.

Closing that gap has never been more urgent.

Right now, European businesses are up against intense geopolitical competition.

For example, the Chinese government is pouring billions into data centers and integrating AI across its economy.

The strategy is paying off: The latest estimates suggest up to 83% of Chinese companies are already using generative AI. Meanwhile, the European Commission estimates that European adoption is hovering at around 14%.

Catching up presents a significant challenge, as European companies are hampered by a complex and costly regulatory environment.

Since 2019, over 100 new EU regulations have targeted the digital economy — and more than 60% of Europe’s businesses now say regulation is their biggest obstacle to investment in the EU.

They are justified in feeling that way: A recent Danish government study estimates new regulations could impose an additional €124 billion in annual costs on Europe’s businesses and public administration.

Unfortunately, progress to streamline these regulations has been slow. One year out from Mario Draghi’s recommendations on EU competitiveness, and only 11.2% of his ideas have been adopted.

And as von der Leyen noted in her State of the Union, fragmentation within the Single Market isn't helping matters.

She cited an International Monetary Fund study that found internal barriers effectively translate into a 45% tariff on goods and a 110% tariff on services within the EU market.

So we’re up against intensifying global competition, geopolitical pressures, and regulatory complexity.

Let’s meet those challenges head-on with a three-part strategy to…

• First, lay the foundation for AI innovation with smart policy,
• Second, build out adoption by equipping the workforce with new skills,
• And third, scale up by keeping the momentum going and empowering people and businesses with AI.

Part 1: Lay the foundation

Let’s start with what we need to get right foundationally.

For over 25 years, Google has been a committed partner in Europe, with 30,000 employees, 7 data centers, 13 cloud regions, and 6 subsea cables supporting the region's digital economy.

We’re all in on ensuring Europe doesn’t just participate in the AI revolution, but helps to lead it.

And Europe has the crucial building blocks to do just that, like a talent pool second to none, world class universities, and a single market that could — in theory — help new innovation scale.

But to build for the future, you need to establish the supportive framework necessary for innovation to thrive.

We can come together to create that.

It’s time to simplify — time to focus on crafting regulation that’s focused, aligned and balanced.

Let’s start with focused.

Regulating in ways that support AI innovation means focusing on the real-world effects of AI.

It looks like filling regulatory gaps instead of developing sweeping rules that choke off beneficial, lower-risk uses of AI.

And it requires us to oversee outputs, not inputs — to manage risks and consequences, not micromanage science.

Good regulation is also aligned.

By applying existing regulations to AI applications and harmonizing international frameworks, we can let model providers develop AI in Europe and offer their latest and best models to European companies and citizens.

Finally, this early on in the course of a new technology, good regulation is balanced.

Regulation should seek to avoid harm, yes, but it should also be designed to nurture the spirit of innovation and to enable AI’s immense potential.

We need to take a hard look at outdated rules that could be slowing us down.

Efforts like harmonizing cybersecurity reporting and the upcoming Digital Omnibus Packages are encouraging steps toward this goal — provided we include meaningful simplifications and account for all sizes of business.

Critically: The European Commission wants your input to shape this agenda — so be sure to share your views by October 14.

It’s so important we get this right because as we outline in our new report with Implement, up to 40% of AI’s innovation potential depends on growing Innovative Digital Businesses here in Europe.

In our conversations with European businesses and entrepreneurs, we hear again and again that aligning rules, streamlining regulations, and reducing administrative burdens would go a long way toward helping them compete on a level playing field globally.

So getting that solid regulatory foundation in place has to be step one.

From there, we can shift to step two: It’s time to build.

Part 2: Build out

And by that I mean: Get people and companies using these tools.

Let me quantify how much and how fast technology is changing: Our new AI models are not just more capable, but 300x more efficient than the state-of-the-art from just two years ago.

Not 300% — 300x.

But with so much change happening so fast, we have to make sure we’re bringing people along and focusing on adoption as much as invention.

In the short term: We need to be working now to expand opportunity by focusing on skilling.

In the long run: We need to be partnering to bring entirely new categories of jobs online.

Public-private partnerships can accelerate the short term skilling objective — and I’m pleased to report that work is well underway.

Over the last decade, Google has worked with governments to help over 14 million Europeans learn digital skills to build their business or career, while our €15 million AI Opportunity Fund works with civil society to train the most vulnerable people in Europe on foundational AI skills.

But individual companies can only provide pilot projects — it will be the role of governments to take up the most successful examples and scale them up.

While public-private partnerships can prepare our current workforce for AI, our long-term success depends on collaborating across all sectors to create the jobs of the future.

This kind of evolution is nothing new — 60% of today's jobs didn't even exist 80 years ago.

Our opportunity is to accelerate this cycle of creation, inventing the new products and services that will define our competitive edge.

So equipping people with the right skills and expanding the types of jobs available to them is key in this adoption phase, but so too is giving people and businesses confidence in the AI tools they’re using.

That’s why, on the industry side, companies need to engender trust with safe and reliable tools.

One way we do that at Google is by delivering Sovereign Cloud and AI solutions.

By providing customers with full control over where their data is stored, we ensure European data is managed according to local requirements and in line with European values.

Crucially, we deliver these solutions not on our own, but through deep business partnerships with European leaders like Schwarz Group in Germany, Telecom Italia in Italy, Thales in France, and Minsait in Spain.

As people get more comfortable with these tools, we will be able to pick up the pace.

So now for the fun part, scaling up.

Part 3: Scale up

We are in an era of wonders.

The potential of AI isn’t just chatbots. In fact, chatbots are just a tiny part of its potential.

The real action is in scientific breakthroughs.

We’re already seeing this today.

AI-enabled advances like Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold are delivering generational progress in biology and healthcare. The AlphaFold Protein Database now contains nearly every protein known to science and is used by more than three million researchers worldwide.

For example, researchers at the University of Malta are tapping into AlphaFold’s vast database to gain a better understanding of the genetic causes of osteoporosis.

And around the world, researchers are using tools like our Google DeepMind AI tool, GNoME, to transform materials science, uncovering hundreds of thousands of new materials, leading to potential breakthroughs in everything from energy to transportation to clean water.

When you hear about the problems these powerful tools are solving, it’s no wonder polling shows the more people use AI, the more optimistic they become about it.

Whether it’s the doctor at the Princess Máxima Center in the Netherlands using Google Gemini AI models to design more personalized cancer treatments for pediatric patients, or the farmers across the EU using AI to design and monitor their fields for greater yields and more efficient fertilization.

People are seeing how AI can solve problems, speed up tasks, and uncover insights.

It’s critical that we work together to keep that momentum going.

Conclusion

The bottom line is this: European leaders say AI leadership is at the top of their agenda — and it’s time to make those ambitions a reality. We do that by clearing hurdles for Europe’s world-class innovators, partnering to accelerate research, and scaling the adoption of the most innovative AI tools to ignite a new era of growth and innovation.

The potential is clear, the tools are at the ready, and we are committed to partnering to help Europe seize the moment.

Thank you.