EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the case for deeper US-EU cooperation on artificial intelligence during the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, on June 17. The gathering brought together not just heads of state but leaders from some of the most consequential AI companies on the planet, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Mistral.
What von der Leyen actually said
“It is in our mutual interest that our citizens and companies can safely use the best AI models.”
Rather than positioning Europe as a regulatory adversary to American tech dominance, von der Leyen leaned into the language of mutual benefit. That framing simultaneously acknowledges that the best AI models are, for now, largely being built by American companies, while asserting that Europe’s role isn’t just to consume those models but to shape the terms under which they operate.
Mistral’s inclusion is particularly notable. The Paris-based company has become Europe’s most prominent homegrown AI lab, offering a counterweight to the narrative that the continent is purely an importer of American and Chinese AI technology. Having Mistral sit alongside OpenAI and Anthropic sends a signal about Europe’s ambitions to be a producer, not just a regulator.
