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State of the Union speech: “We want artificial intelligence”
Deutsch (original) · Auto-translated to English
In her State of the Union speech, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave a lot of space to so-called artificial intelligence. She made it clear: AI should spread throughout society.
The challenges are “extraordinary” and the pace of change is “unbelievable”. Nevertheless, the situation in the Union is stronger than ever, said the President of the EU Commission todayhttps://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_26_1868">Ur...von der Leyen (CDU) in her programmatic speechconfident.
According to von der Leyen, two problems particularly stand out: climate change and artificial intelligence (AI). However, she hardly linked the two fields. Last summer was the “summer of truth,” said von der Leyen. Forest fires in large parts of Europe, disappearing glaciers, historic heat waves: “Important rivers such as the Danube, the Rhine and the Garonne are disappearing before our eyes,” says von der Leyen.
That to thehttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/genug-fuer-600-millionen-menschen-warum-ver...also data centers and especially AI applicationsto do their part was not immediately reflected in the Commission President's speech. Meanwhile, von der Leyen announced a new European water initiative: "Because water is precious. For our industry - and for our food security."
“We want AI”
This obviously also includes the AI industry. Thehttps://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/de/policies/artificial-intelligenc...the Commissionwas clear, said von der Leyen: "We want AI. We want AI to create more value - and more responsibly. Also at lower costs and with lower energy consumption. But above all, we want AI in which humans remain in control."
This does not necessarily mean that European companies are at the forefront of development and co-developing so-called frontier models, i.e. AI models that are state-of-the-art. Rather, it's about usage and the data that the models are fed with.
Ultimately, AI will spread everywhere, says von der Leyen. "We must create the value that AI does not yet provide today. By bringing AI from the screens into our real economy and our society. Into the factories. The hospitals. The precision agriculture. Our energy grids. The autonomous driving. The defense."
The President announced that the EU will initially focus on five of the “highest-value economic sectors” in which industrial AI has the greatest potential. These include healthcare, transport, agriculture and food, advanced manufacturing and defense and space. Europe has the necessary data for this. In November the Commission will announce “landmark initiatives” in these sectors.
The AI industry is at the table
At the same time, these advanced AI models could be dangerous, warned von der Leyen. Incidents in which AI agents break out of their environment or inject malicious code are just a small foretaste. AfterIT security incident involving HuggingFaceDevelopers would sound the alarm and the heads of the largest AI companies would demand a deceleration, said von der Leyen.
https://netzpolitik.org/2026/warning-vor-katastrophalen-schaeden-kuenstl...Artificial intelligence is not a natural phenomenon
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A heated debate has broken out about this in the past few days. The apocalyptic warnings of the very people who put these supposedly extremely dangerous products into the world are resoundinghttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/warning-vor-katastrophalen-schaeden-kuenstl...some due to a lack of understanding: On the one hand, the forecasts can hardly be distinguished from a PR campaign, and on the other hand, democratic societies would have to contain not only the technology, but also the AI companies themselves.
Meanwhile, AI companies are resisting regulation. They would rather just behttps://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/jensen-huang-dreamforce/">selfregulateor, something like thathttps://www.golem.de/news/elon-musk-ford-unternehmen-sollen-ihre-ki-s...by Elon Musk, who also warned, want to control each other. Meanwhile, it's about American politicshttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/us/politics/ai-catastrophe-fears-wash...to be expected, while voices from China fromhttps://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/china-state-newspaper-blasts-anthropic...from the Cold Warspeak and thehttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/world/asia/china-ai-security-risks-an...Don't talk into leadershipwant to let.
Europe finds itself in a position to shape global efforts to address the problem, said von der Leyen. The AI Act is already a “crucial building block for setting guard rails.” Alone with one “Brussels effectHowever, as can be observed in data protection, this should not remain the case.
"We will act together with like-minded partners such as Canada, the United Kingdom and others. We want to work together on model assessment, verification, early warning, AI security and much more," the President said.
She also extends her hand towards the industry. Von der Leyen announced that she would invite representatives from the leading frontier laboratories to a discussion. Together they will explore how the Commission can “support the industry’s ongoing efforts to manage the pace of technological development in these frontier models.”
AI in the workplace
Von der Leyen discussed the effects on employees more briefly. “Many of the risks of AI also impact our social market economy,” she said. She's obviously primarily looking at people who don't spend their day with chatbots.
“For some, AI allows them to speed up repetitive tasks to make better use of their skills, but it is clear that these benefits are unevenly distributed across different skill groups, generations and regions.” Young people in particular who want to enter the job market would have to overcome high hurdles in order to even get a job - incidentally, one of the direct effects of AIhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2025/08/26/ai-kills-jobs-says-...devours etchings.
Europe must keep up with this development, said von der Leyen. “From education to employment, AI must help develop skills, improve the quality of jobs and give workers a fair chance.” It should be more specific with the “https://employment-social-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies-and-activities/r...Jobs Act“, which the Commission wants to present by the end of the year.
What priorities the planned law will ultimately set remains unclear. The most recent one, carried out in the summerhttps://employment-social-affairs.ec.europa.eu/news/commission-opens-sec...Regarding the project, the Commission asked, among other things, how “algorithmic management and AI in the workplace” could be designed to be socially acceptable.
Some business associations are mobilizing against this. The EU should not “bureaucratize AI and algorithmic management any further,” says oneStatement by the German employers' association BDA. This could be well received by the Commission, which is currently pursuing a decidedly business-friendly course and, overall, thehttps://netzpolitik.org/2025/faq-zum-digitalen-omnibus-was-plant-die-eu-...deregulatewants.
https://netzpolitik.org/2026/eu-kids-act-eu-kommission-will-netz-mit-alt...wants to plaster the internet with age controls
Startup as a showcase example
As part of the approach, the Commission wants to introduce a savings and investment union in addition to a capital markets union. This is intended to create the conditions so that “our companies can attract investment and grow,” said von der Leyen. The EU needs a “banking system that is designed for growth – and not just stability.”
As a specific example, she cited the European manufacturer and operator of satellites, ICEYE. The two founders, each from Poland and Finland, met during the Erasmus semester abroad and later founded a start-up together. Funds from the EU funding program Horizon Europe were also added to private venture capital.
The company is now one of the leading space companies, said von der Leyen. “ICEYE’s story shows that Europe is the home of innovation – and that we can rekindle Europe’s entrepreneurial spirit.”
Age controls announced
In addition to the future use of AI, another topic relevant to internet policy was one of the main focuses of Ursula von der Leyen's speech. As expected, the Commission President announced the EU Kids Act, which, among other thingshttps://netzpolitik.org/tag/alterskontrollen/">Age controlsfor social networksprovides.
We have the key points of the planned lawhttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/eckpoints-geleakt-eu-commission-will-social...reported. We are analyzing the EU Commission's draft for the EU Kids Act, which has now been sent to ushttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/eu-kids-act-eu-kommission-will-netz-mit-alt...Article. Let's get one thing straight: not only children, but also their parents have to dress warmly.
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Become part of this unique community and support our public interest-oriented, advertising- and tracking-free journalismhttps://netzpolitik.org/spenden/?via=rss">nowwith a donation.
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