Digital Future Daily

After safety took a back seat at the Paris AI Action Summit, Western governments have made a clear pivot: Winning the AI race is more important than regulating it. Now, a mind-boggling global spending spree is on. The U.S. is investing $500 billion in the Stargate project. The EU launched the €200 billion (about $215 billion) InvestAI initiative, France has announced €109 billion (about $117 billion) and the U.K. has announced at least £20 billion (about $26 billion) in data center investments since October.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer summed up the new approach in January: “In a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by. We must move fast and take action to win the global race.”

As nations plan massive investments into data centers, it’s also becoming clear money is not the only factor to drive AI development. Other factors like workforce training and access to energy and semiconductors are subject to policies that could pull countries in a different direction.