Europe's AI Sovereignty at Risk from US Control

The recent incident where the US government instructed Anthropic to disable its Fable AI model for all foreign users, shortly after its release, underscores a critical issue beyond AI safety: control and access. This event, which Anthropic reportedly disputed, revealed that even commercial AI products developed by US companies are subject to American regulatory directives, potentially impacting users globally. The author, an investor in AI, contends that the ongoing debate about AI risks has largely focused on the technology's capabilities and potential for autonomous action, neglecting the equally vital aspect of who controls these powerful systems. With advanced AI predominantly built by a few American firms under US law, other nations, particularly in Europe, are increasingly reliant on a supply chain that can be unilaterally interrupted. This dependency means that core economic and public infrastructure, from healthcare to defense, could be running on systems vulnerable to foreign government directives. The author emphasizes that as AI becomes the fundamental engine for economic growth and innovation across all sectors, a nation without its own frontier AI capabilities risks losing control over its economic inputs and, ultimately, its independence. Europe, despite its historical contributions to AI, currently lacks the scale of investment and infrastructure seen in the US, making the window to become a builder rather than a buyer rapidly close.