ECB President says Europe missed first digital revolution and cannot afford to sit out AI wave

Europe missed the first digital revolution and cannot afford to be left behind again in the artificial intelligence (AI) wave, as it has all the potential needed to compete, European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said, according to Euronews.

In her view, to succeed in the AI race against giants such as the United States and China, the EU must complete the single market and integrate its capital markets, which remain too fragmented.

“Europe largely missed out on the first digital revolution, while others captured a disproportionate share of the commercial benefits arising from the spread of information and communication technologies. We cannot afford to repeat that experience with artificial intelligence (AI), the second digital revolution,” Lagarde said at a meeting of the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council in Geneva.

Lagarde’s analysis is largely in line with the conclusions of her predecessor, Mario Draghi. In 2024, he authored a landmark report on restoring the EU’s economic competitiveness, describing artificial intelligence as Europe’s last chance to rejoin the global technological race.