In information technology, the paranoids survive. This thesis from Andy Grove, one of the co-founders of the American chip manufacturer Intel, is as old as it is not taken to heart by politicians and many entrepreneurs in Germany. This becomes clearer every year at the World Economic Forum in Davos: on the crucial podiums where the future of artificial intelligence (AI) is discussed, Germans or Europeans are not represented at all.
Representatives from other countries are making clear statements about where the journey is headed. Mike Rounds, for example, Senator from South Dakota, Republican, member of the Defense Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee, leaves no doubt about this: “We must and will do everything we can to maintain our lead in high-performance chips and network technologies. And if it's only a lead of three to four months at a time.” If export bans are helpful, this is also the means to resort to: “We must never allow ourselves to fall behind.”
“What would have happened if we hadn’t let Albert Einstein into the country back then?”
Umar Sultan Al Olama, AI and Digital Minister of the United Arab Emirates, comes from a different culture, but sits next to Rounds on the podium on the same topic – and has no different opinion than the senator from America: “You absolutely have to do it, that the population is prepared to keep up with the rapid change that the ever new technical developments make necessary.”
A few years ago it was thought that everyone had to learn programming, but in light of the capabilities of generative AI, things are completely different. But now the population has to deal with it: “That's why we sent an SMS to all residents of a country with a corresponding note about the importance of AI, with a link to a training course.” At least 180,000 people then accepted this offer .
He couldn't imagine something like that happening in the United States, said Rounds – but it was clear that not only its own population had to go along with the change, but that the country also had to be open to people with the appropriate qualifications: “I always say to my colleagues: jobs Imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t let Albert Einstein into the country back then.”
The German listener not only has to think about things like this, but also because there is hardly a European voice on the subject. “Generative AI is developing ten times faster than all comparable major digital technologies of the past,” predicts Arvind Krishna, the head of the American technology provider IBM.
Next legislative period, otherwise “I’ll see black”
And Cristiano Amon, CEO of the American chip manufacturer Qualcomm, adds, as if to confirm his IBM colleague's thesis: “A year ago we talked to customers about ten specific use cases for generative AI, now there are thousands.”
Have German companies already recognized this dynamic? In any case, Julie Sweets, the CEO of the consulting group Accenture, has no illusions about what is now necessary for managers and their employees: “AI will create many new jobs, but the people who already have one today will not get them. if they do not receive additional training and do not develop an understanding of what is possible.” This is the big challenge: using AI productively in everyday operations.
The politicians and managers from the countries who know what the AI hour has come have only one hope: that they will manage not to regulate AI in such a way that innovation is stifled – and that this innovation will be promoted in open systems individual countries cannot isolate themselves. This in turn could be the last hope for Germany and Europe. Meanwhile, at the coffee bar in the conference center, you meet a German who works at the interface between business and politics in Berlin – and is unable to lighten the mood: “If we don't turn things around in terms of digitalization in the federal government by the next legislative period at the latest Creating competence is something I see as black.” However, those around us also agree that elections have not yet been decided on the issue in Germany. The message didn't arrive.
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