EU pledges 200b euros for new AI investment initiative

The European Union (EU) launched InvestAI, an initiative to mobilize 200 billion euros ($206.5 billion) to boost the bloc's artificial intelligence investment, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Tuesday at the AI Action Summit.

"We want AI to be a force for good and for growth," she said in a statement. "We are doing this through our own European approach -- based on openness, cooperation and excellent talent. But our approach still needs to be supercharged."

The statement noted that InvestAI includes a 20-billion-euro (20.6-billion-dollar) fund for European AI gigafactories, aimed at training large-scale, complex AI models. The gigafactories will be equipped with approximately 100,000 next-generation AI chips, about four times more than the current amount, it added.

The European Commission announced the first seven AI factories last December and is set to unveil five more soon, the statement said.

The Commission also plans to establish a European AI Research Council to pool resources to support AI and other technologies, and will launch the "Apply AI" initiative later this year to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence in key sectors, it added.