EU to Discuss AI Development Slowdown with Industry Leaders

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen plans to invite main artificial intelligence companies to discuss industry efforts to impose a slowdown of AI development. In her State of the European Union speech, von der Leyen acknowledged safety warnings from top tech bosses, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Elon Musk, and OpenAI chief Sam Altman. She did not offer an explicit assessment on those calls, but said Europe would support ongoing industry efforts. The Commission president also called for international collaboration on testing and evaluating frontier AI models, with invitations extended to the U. K. and Canada. Von der Leyen emphasized that Europe should focus on drawing value from AI, rather than leading its development. The Commission will focus on five sectors: health, transport, agri-food, advanced manufacturing, and defence and space.