Europe lacks (artificial) intelligence.

BarcelonaThe new battleground in the global struggle for power is artificial intelligence (AI), dominated by the US and, on the other side, by China, with two very different models. And in this context, Europe, focused on regulation, has fallen behind. Its role should be that of a consumer and, as such, put a price on its data, according to Sergi Vicente, journalist and founder of Compass Spain. His years as a correspondent for TV3 in China have made him aware of the Asian giant's advantage and Europe's lag in this field.

Vicente participated in a round table discussion at the Forbes AI Forward Summit 2025 held in Barcelona, where he debated with the director of CIDOB, Pol Morillas; the director general of the Mossos d'Esquadra, Josep Lluís Trapero; and the vice president of General Dynamics and CEO of Santa Bárbara Sistemas, Alejandro Page. Following the questions posed by the moderator, Esther Vera, director of the ARA, this scenario has been taking shape, one in which we have moved from the chip war to the qubit war, that is, the war of quantum computing, as explained in a previous presentation by Nacho de Pinedo, co-founder and CEO of IS. In fact, in just a few years, we have gone from programming "to teaching AI to learn on its own and loading it with data," which is known as generative AI.

One of the major challenges facing Europe, which has been sidelined in a world where geotechnology has taken precedence over geopolitics, is the struggle for control in a world that is both more conflictive and more interdependent, according to Morillas. "Europe has focused too much on regulatory power and has believed that by emulating its past role as regulator of the single market, it would control the rest," he states. And yet, "there is no longer a unification of rules and regulations," since these are set by powerful countries based on their capabilities, such as the United States and China, with different models that have nonetheless given them dominance. The US has an oligopoly of large technology companies like Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and now OpenAI; China concentrates all resources through the state with the ultimate goal of becoming a superpower. Europe must navigate this sea without losing its core values and essence. One path would be less fragmentation and greater cooperation, with joint action by countries and companies to operate like a unified entity—the exact opposite of what it does with the banking union, for example, as reports such as those by former ECB President Mario Draghi and former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta have warned. The defense sector is a clear example, according to Page. The other path is privacy and the right to intimacy. In this regard, Trapero has emphasized Europe's pioneering role in regulation. In any case, it is ultimately human beings who must decide. Technology should facilitate their choice of the best options and also serve to improve public services and "further empower citizens," according to the Director General of the Catalan Police. The representative of the arms industry also advocates for a system that guarantees rights, but one that "does not fall into over-regulation in order to facilitate innovation."