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Brussels is betting that a new partnership between India and the European Union will help it rival the United States in building frontier AI models.
Eurocrats on July 15 agreed a deal with representatives from New Delhi that will see the bloc tighten technology relations with India across the board at the third Trade and Technology Council between the two entities.
This will include allowing Indian projects to access EU financial resources through the Horizon Europe project, with additional partnership plans also being laid out for semiconductors, quantum computing and 6G networking.
Speaking to members of the press on Wednesday, Brussels officials focused largely on what the new agreements will mean for AI development.
“The fields we are now focusing on with India… it’s really about developing our own capacity on AI and developing our own frontier models,” Commission VP Henna Virkkunen said.
She added that both India and the EU “share the same vision” on the technology, especially when it comes to regulating the technology.
“The security and safety risks we are addressing together,” she said.
Brussels shift towards India comes amid its worsening relations with other world powers.
The bloc’s decision to repeatedly fine and penalise companies from both the United States and China has angered the governments of both countries, resulting in Beijing and Washington D.C. levelling tariffs on the bloc.
Europe’s regulate-first approach has also proved caustic both at home and abroad, with AI tech firms founded in Europe frequently being bought out by American firms or unilaterally leaving the union to reestablish themselves on the other side of the Atlantic.
This has left Brussels looking to India as one of the few possible remaining partners when it comes to ramping up technological development.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has opted for similar controls on foreign companies, as well as the internet in general, as Europe. While this has prompted claims of human rights abuses in India, Eurocrats increasingly see him as a trusted partner when it comes to clamping down on digital “hate speech”.
Potential stumbling blocs in the relationship remain. India has regularly refused calls to crack down on Russian oil imports since the start of the war in Ukraine, instead ramping up trade with Moscow to take advantage of the Kremlin’s glut in available exports.
India has even been exporting processed petrol to Russia in recent weeks due to Ukrainian strikes on the country’s oil refineries creating supply difficulties.
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