Germany's Digital Summit: minister urges AI speed, EU's Viola warns on regulation, Siemens says model race is lost

Germany's Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger called for more openness to AI from society and business at the start of the German government's 2026 Digital Summit in Berlin, Heise reports. "We are still too slow. We underestimate what is coming our way," he said, adding that industrial AI needs access to data and computing capacity so mid-sized companies can make the leap, and that "we can't regulate every detail in advance."

"Innovation is shy in the presence of regulation," said Roberto Viola, director general of the European Commission's communications networks, content and technology directorate. He said the EU's Digital Omnibus Act aims to turn 10 data laws into a unified set of rules, including making AI training simpler while staying compatible with the GDPR, and that the Commission plans to address overlapping layers of regulation again in the coming months.

Siemens chief executive Roland Busch said the race to build large, general purpose AI models is largely lost, with the US and China far ahead, and that the big question is how AI can be integrated into design and production.