The European Union will not be able to compete in the global artificial intelligence race by hurting companies in other countries, US envoy to the EU Andrew Puzder told AFP on Thursday.
The EU will next month unveil plans to boost Europe’s tech sector and cut what it describes as an overreliance on foreign firms, especially US tech giants.
The measures will cover the cloud, AI and semiconductor sectors. Many European companies and governments rely on US cloud providers, dominated by Amazon, Microsoft and Google.
“Europe will not be able to pull itself into the AI economy by bringing other people down,” Puzder said in an interview at the US mission to the EU in Brussels when asked about the plans.
A major buzzword in Europe today is competitivity and how the EU can better compete against Chinese and American rivals, but Puzder questioned whether the EU was focused more on boosting itself or on hampering foreign rivals.
“Is it making Europe more competitive or making other people less competitive? One is a good plan. The other is a bad plan,” Puzder said.
He said the United States “would love Europe to partner with us as we face off against China in this AI race” but took aim at the EU’s moves against US tech.
“To partner with us, they have to have access to the data centres and the hardware stack — and you got to stop punishing the companies that are trying to bring those things to you,” Puzder said.
The EU has fined US companies billions of euros for violations of digital competition and online content rules in recent years.
It has been one of the biggest points of contention between Brussels and Washington, but Puzder struck a conciliatory tone after last week’s announcement of a “dialogue” between the EU and United States.
The EU last week said the two sides would tackle tensions over digital issues through talks, which Puzder echoed, though he said the process had not yet started.
“I would like us to stop talking at each other and start speaking with each other,” he said.
