EU’s AI envoy tells commissioners to focus on using AI, Politico reports

The EU’s special envoy for industrial AI has told the EU’s top officials to focus on using AI to lift Europe’s slow productivity. Racing to build the best models matters less, he told them. Zoya Sheftalovich reported the story for Politico.

Jim Hagemann Snabe gave the message to the 27 commissioners at a private seminar on 4 September, two Commission officials told Politico. He said AI could help health, farming, transport, defence and factories.

A week earlier, a Commission AI expert gave a similar briefing to the commissioners’ heads of cabinet. The US and China may lead on models and computing power, but Europe can still gain by putting AI to use, according to slides seen by Politico.

The slides gave examples such as easier testing rules for self-driving cars, secure data spaces for personalised medicine and a digital adviser for farmers.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made a similar point in her State of the Union speech on 16 September. She said Europe does not need to build frontier AI to get the most value from it.

Snabe, who chairs the supervisory board of Siemens, was appointed in June to advise von der Leyen and tech chief Henna Virkkunen. His appointment drew conflict-of-interest criticism at the time.

A Commission spokesperson, Thomas Regnier, told Politico the talk was about how Europe can get firms to use AI faster.

However, not everyone backs this plan. German MEP Axel Voss said the Commission was too slow to enforce its AI law, and pointed to recent hacks by AI agents, Politico reported.

Others want Europe to build more of its own AI capacity. Earlier this month, former commissioner Margrethe Vestager and economist Philippe Aghion called for Europe to hold 15% of global compute by 2030.

Snabe’s team will study how each sector can use AI until December, then draft new policies near the end of the year, according to Politico. A final report and strategy are expected in early 2027.