September 16, 2026, 09:25 GMT | Insight
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has put AI risk management and Europe’s tech independence at the center of the EU’s coming policy agenda. Brussels will seek closer cooperation with Canada, the UK and other partners on model evaluation, early warning and AI security, while convening frontier labs to discuss “pacing the frontier.”
The EU AI Act is the crucial piece of legislation that puts Europe in a position to shape global efforts to tackle AI risks, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday. The bloc plans to help shape the future of AI with partners such as Canada, the United Kingdom and others, she added in her State of the Union speech on Wednesday.
Von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech signals which proposals, funding, and enforcement priorities Brussels will pursue over the next year. This year, AI risks and calls for pacing the frontier are taking the stage.
The commission plans to invite major frontier labs for a discussion on supporting industry efforts to “pace the frontier,” Von der Leyen said.
The Hugging Face incident,
in which
OpenAI's rogue models hacked into another platform,
has inspired developers to ring the alarm. Future models will allow hacking on a level never thought possible and will soon be in the hands of “adversaries who see the world very differently from us,” she noted.
The EU is also facing calls to cooperate more internationally on regulating AI (see
here). Von der Leyen's announcement of closer cooperation with "like-minded" partners comes as the EU and Canada look to deepen their technology partnership beyond the EU–Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
, or CETA.
“We want to team up on model evaluation, verification, early warning, AI security and much more,” von der Leyen said.
The debate over the risks of frontier AI models intensified last weekend, when
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for international cooperation on “pacing the frontier” of AI development to avoid serious risks, such as losing control of AI systems, cyberattacks, bioterrorism, and economic disruption. Other tech bosses, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk, supported the call.
“CEOs of the most advanced companies tell us that it is time to slow down on the self-recursive models. To pace the frontier,” she said. “If the people developing the technology are clear, then we should be too.”
Last week, Von der Leyen's senior economic adviser met OpenAI to discuss cybersecurity challenges and Europe’s efforts to achieve technological sovereignty. The commission has also sent information requests to 30 companies to verify providers’ compliance (see
here).
"Von der Leyen rightly says the AI Act positions Europe to lead on AI safety. Cooperation with Canada and the UK on model evaluation, verification and early warning is the way forward," said Brando Benifei, one of the EU lawmakers who worked on Europe's landmark AI law.
Europe still wants to make the most of AI, Von der Leyen said. In November, the EU plans to announce an “ambitious project” in industrial AI, including in sectors such as health, transport, agri-food, advanced manufacturing, and defense and space, she announced.
The call for participation in developing industrial AI will be sent to member states and lawmakers, as well as industry and entrepreneurs. The continent plans to develop its AI and will rely on its wealth of industrial data.
“We want AI to create more value more responsibly. And at a lower cost and with less energy consumption,” she said.
The continent will need to massively boost its computing capacities to protect its national security and stay in the race. The EU’s efforts in gigafactories and tech sovereignty will play a role, she said.
The EU is trying to boost its economy through initiatives such as the AI Continent Action Plan, InvestAI and AI gigafactories, to build more data center capacity, expand cloud services, improve energy efficiency, and make European data easier to access.
In August, the EU launched a call for bids for up to seven AI gigafactories, with construction expected to start in 2027. The total investment for the initiative amounts to €30 billion ($35 billion). Technological sovereignty is a big part of the project: Bids will be evaluated on the impact on building Europe’s strategic autonomy in technology (see
here).
“We need to stay in the race. Because this is crucial for our independence,” she said.
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