AI: Europe Risks Becoming a Bystander in the US–China Race, Experts Warn

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents AI: Europe Risks Becoming a Bystander in the US–China Race, Experts Warn.

While major US AI companies are calling for tighter regulation and international agreements, several experts believe Europe is at risk of sliding into a fresh technological dependency. According to German newsweekly DER SPIEGEL, Europe would be little more than a bystander if the major AI powers set the framework for the coming years.

Ifo President Clemens Fuest puts it bluntly: he sees Europe facing an existential threat in artificial intelligence through its dependence on the United States. The economic and technological stakes are high — and the window for crafting its own response is closing fast, warns the head of the Munich-based economic research institute.

The diagnosis: a fraction of the infrastructure, a major user

The concern is not new, but the tone has grown sharper. In a press release from the ifo Institute dated June 19, 2026, the institute notes that Europe controls only a fraction of global AI infrastructure — while remaining a significant user. The imbalance between consumption and control makes the continent vulnerable, particularly to political and regulatory decisions made in the United States.

This warning fits into a broader debate. As Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung reports, citing an expert panel, critical voices already view Europe as a playing field for foreign powers. The demand: more sovereignty, more domestic data centres and homegrown models — rather than relying on third parties at every step of the value chain.

The demands: regulation, agreements, domestic capacity

So what is to be done? The proposals from the various camps are strikingly similar. At their core, the experts are calling for three things: first, tighter international regulation — not just in Washington or Brussels, but as a binding agreement. Second, European investment in its own AI infrastructure, so the continent is not permanently dependent on US or Chinese models. Third, more speed: anyone who drags their feet on regulation risks having standards set elsewhere, leaving Europe to play catch-up.

A Reuters report, distributed via financial news platform Marketscreener and others, points in the same direction: leading economists and politicians warn that Europe is being marginalized in the AI race. Whoever falls behind on computing power, chips and models will be permanently at a disadvantage — with consequences for the economy, security and digital sovereignty.

Further warnings in context

The debate is flanked by two further threads. On one front, IT security expert Dennis-Kenji Kipker, speaking to German broadcaster ZDF heute, warns of growing dangers from artificial intelligence — particularly failures in critical systems. As more infrastructure comes to depend on AI, the risk grows that a single error or outage could have far-reaching consequences — amounting to what he calls a worst-case scenario.

The bottom line: a warning with a deadline

What connects the various sources is the note of urgency. According to the reports, Europe is neither where it needs to be on regulation nor on its own infrastructure. The consequence is taking shape in the public statements: without a counter-move now, the experts say, Europe will repeat a pattern it already knows from the cloud and chip debates — a dependence that is difficult to break later.

It remains to be seen how seriously political decision-makers take the warnings. What is clear is that the list of voices is growing — the Ifo president, economists, IT security experts and international research groups are all speaking with a similar thrust. What becomes of it will depend on the next political decisions in Brussels and the national capitals.