The world is gripped by the AI arms race. Every day brings a new headline: “How to stop AI replacing your job”; “How to face up to dark data in the AI boom”; “Is DeepSeek AI’s Sputnik moment?”
But as we all look, intently, to the US and China, we seem to be ignoring Europe. The continent is too rarely part of the conversation, either ignored or castigated for what’s been branded a suffocating approach, leaden with red tape. Many of us ensconced in AI, however (I am the professor of language technology at the University of Leeds) take the view that Europe — which prioritises responsibility and equality over sheer power — might be making the right decision.
