Germany have plans practically double the public money that will be used to finance research in Artificial Intelligence over the next two years. With this step, according to Reuters, the investment of the German state in the sector will be around 1,000 million, in an effort to close the gap that separates them from the leaders of the sector, which at the moment are China and the United States.
This investment, confirmed by the German Research Minister Bettina Stark-WatzingerHowever, it lags behind the public investment of the US government, which in 2022 alone spent 3.3 billion dollars on said technology. However, it will be a push to contribute to coming out of the crisis that Germany is facing due to the consequences of the war in Ukraine, among other things.
With this investment, Germany plans to create 150 new university laboratories dedicated to Artificial Intelligence research, as well as expand data centers. It will also facilitate access to the more complex public data sets from which useful information is extracted using various techniques.
Despite these plans, in Germany they are aware that they continue to lag behind public investment, and private investment in the United States and China. According to Stark-Watzinger, the emerging regulatory framework in Europe, which places a lot of importance on privacy and personal security than in the mentioned countries, could attract industry assets to Germany, since they could collaborate with the European Union.
The minister has highlighted that they have «AI that is explainable, trustworthy and transparent. This is a competitive advantage«. He has also recognized that simpler regulations would facilitate private investment in research.
Meanwhile. the number of AI startups in Germany has doubled so far in 2023but even so, the country only occupies the ninth level in terms of AI development worldwide, as they have recognized since their government.
