Overview
- Speaking at the Politecnico di Milano on Dec. 1, Mario Draghi urged the EU to accelerate AI deployment or face prolonged low growth.
- Draghi highlighted a capability gap, noting 40 foundational models were produced in the U.S. last year, 15 in China and just 3 in the EU.
- He said widespread AI use could lift advanced-economy growth by roughly 0.8 percentage points per year in an optimistic scenario.
- He called for adaptive, evidence-based rules and faster public–private coordination, echoing reports that cite scarce compute, fragmented markets, low digital procurement (about 9%) and founders’ concerns that regulation is too restrictive (~70%).
- Draghi judged mass unemployment unlikely but warned of uneven job substitution, inequality, fraud and privacy risks, while citing health gains such as U.S. ER triage tools cutting wait times by over 55%.