EU leaders urged to 'act now' to stay AI competitive with US, China

EU leaders in Dublin were called on by an AI executive to move quickly in the tech race with the US and China. EU official Metsola, however, expressed frustration with the idea that the bloc is behind in AI development. European Union leaders met in Dublin on Friday at the first ever summit on artificial intelligence (AI) .

The meeting came at a critical moment, as the bloc seeks a unified policy on the rapidly evolving technology . The meeting took place in Dublin's Convention Center, which was also the meeting place of the European Political Community summit this week. French AI company Mistral's CEO Arthur Mensch, as well as Nobel-prize winner and researcher Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as the "godfather of AI," spoke to EU leaders at the summit.

"Europe has all the technology and the talent to lead the AI race," Mensch said during the event. "What it needs is speed, financing and a strong coordination between member states." "AI is the most important technology of our time," European Council ‌President Antonio Costa said in a post on X regarding the summit.