{"slug": "why-europe-has-been-absent-from-the-great-ai-safety-debate", "title": "Why Europe has been absent from the great AI safety debate", "summary": "European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said Europeans face two options on AI: shun the technology and lose out on growth, or embrace it and become dependent on tools developed by the US and China. The Guardian reported that Europe has been largely absent from the intensifying global debate over AI safety, even though the continent would be affected by the technology regardless of how worst-case scenarios play out. The piece noted that Europe has measures addressing how consumers might encounter AI, while experts hold differing views on the severity of the risks.", "body_md": "# Why Europe has been absent from the great AI safety debate\n\nBy Dan Milmo and Aisha DownSource: \n\n[The Guardian Technology](https://www.theguardian.com/us/technology)\nThough Europe has measures that address how consumers might encounter AI, technology will impact them if the worst scenarios bear\n\nEurope’s dilemma over AI was rendered in stark terms this week. The head of the continent’s central bank, Christine Lagarde, said Europeans have two options: shun the technology and lose out on growth; or embrace it and become dependent on tools developed by the US and China.\n\nThe great debate over [AI safety](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/ai-safety) that has erupted in recent days threatens to make the choice moot. If the worst scenarios come to bear – [and experts have differing views on this](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/15/could-ai-really-wipe-out-humanity-and-hijack-the-internet) – then the technology will impact the continent regardless.\n\n[Continue reading...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/18/europe-ai-safety-debate)\n\nGet AI news in your inbox\n\nDaily digest of what matters in AI.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-europe-has-been-absent-from-the-great-ai-safety-debate", "canonical_source": "https://www.machinebrief.com/news/why-europe-has-been-absent-from-the-great-ai-safety-debate-6o3g", "published_at": "2026-09-18 18:37:36+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-18 19:54:27.900568+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-safety", "ai-policy", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["European Central Bank", "Christine Lagarde", "The Guardian", "Europe", "United States", "China"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-europe-has-been-absent-from-the-great-ai-safety-debate", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-europe-has-been-absent-from-the-great-ai-safety-debate.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-europe-has-been-absent-from-the-great-ai-safety-debate.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-europe-has-been-absent-from-the-great-ai-safety-debate.jsonld"}}