Europe Just A Tech Footnote? AI FOMO Is Alive and Well in Both France and Germany
AI regulation is necessary but not sufficient to stop Europe from being a tech footnote.
For Europeans worried about decline in a time of war and economic slowdown, last week's OECD international education rankings didn't help. French 15-year-olds have seen a historic drop in math skills, and Germany's recorded their lowest scores ever.
Amid the bad-tempered reactions over what to do about it, Paris was quick to point to the hope of one technology in particular: artificial intelligence. Emmanuel Macron's administration will next year roll out an adaptive testing AI tool in math and French for 200,000 high-school students. Developed by French startup EvidenceB, the program is designed to adapt to each individual student and help educators track their progress — and it's been pitched as a “sovereign” tool to restore the grandeur of France.
It's easy to be cynical about this kind of announcement. Governments leaping on technological flavors of the month to overhaul public services at a time of stretched budgets is nothing new. Maybe if the PISA scores had come out a few years ago there might have been a call for a math metaverse or a blockchain coding camp to improve kids' ability. It's not clear yet whether this rollout of AI testing will deliver productivity gains or digital headaches.
Yet it's testament to the real geopolitical panic gripping Europe when it comes to AI. France and Germany are fed up with losing yet another potential tech-industrial revolution to the US and Asia, which dominate the ranks of the most valuable tech companies. They also see a chance to reshape the state at a time when huge spending challenges from defense to climate change are mounting. These are valid concerns, even if the result is a kind of
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