Austria has proposed that the European Union should consider bringing artificial intelligence company Anthropic to the bloc to counter U.S. moves to prevent foreigners from using the company's most advanced AI models. In a letter to EU Technology Commissioner Hannah Verkunen made public by the Austrian government, Austrian State Secretary for Digitalization Alexander Prohl wrote that it is crucial to ensure that Europe is not isolated from major innovations.
"Let's explore together the possibility of Anthropic's strategic layout and participation within the EU. We will provide it with legal certainty, market access, capital support, and a value system that is consistent with the company." Prohl wrote in the letter.
He did not say how the move would be implemented and acknowledged there may be skepticism about the feasibility of the idea.
“The real question is not whether this is easy to achieve,” Prohl writes. “The question is whether we Europeans are ready to be the architects of our own technological future, or whether we are content to be mere executors of decisions taken elsewhere.”
Earlier this month, the European Commission proposed a series of bills aimed at boosting local cloud computing, artificial intelligence and semiconductor industries and reducing dependence on big U.S. technology companies, a move that ignored U.S. government criticism of the group's crackdown on its technology sector.