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Why Europe’s AI Future Isn’t in Cars, It’s in Chips
How TechAltar correctly identified Europe’s investment challenge but completely missed where its competitive edge.
A few weeks ago, The Friday Checkout (TechAltar), in its Nebula Q&A received a question: “Do you think Europe will be able to catch up with AI?” His response was, in short, “no AI, Europe should invest in the automotive industry,” but I believe that he was wrong. It turns out that yes, Europe should invest in AI. But, not as we generally understand it.
The Friday Checkout and the Q&A
Every Friday, with admirable rigor, TechAltar presents the week’s news on his side-channel The Friday Checkout. This channel is also available on Nebula, and in line with other channels, through Nebula they provide additional content not available on YouTube. In this case, The Friday Checkout does a Q&A at the end, responding to some of the questions they receive from their audience.
The questions are very diverse, like the one from December 6, 2024, about whether Intel’s CEO should resign, or the one from January 10, 2025, about whether AI generators would contaminate YouTube. But, it turns out, being a Europe-based channel, it often focuses on its own perspective, so, it also answers questions like the one from January 3, 2025, about whether startups can succeed in Europe, or from February 7, 2025, about whether Europe should ban US tech companies to favor the internal market.
Should Europe catch up with AI?
His answers often have an important component of prior research and reflection. And this was no different for the question from February 14, 2025, where he answered multiple questions centered on whether Europe should make an effort to catch up with AI.
The answer to the question is the one I already mentioned earlier, but the answer was as important as how he approached it.
