Germany Aims to Become a Leading Hub for Artificial Intelligence, Minister Says
Germany is poised to become a leading hub for artificial intelligence, according to Digitalization Minister Karsten Wildberger. At the “Bebeta” digital congress, Wildberger emphasized that Germany is already ahead of the curve in the field of AI, with many people underestimating the country’s progress.
Wildberger’s vision is for the state to take the lead in digitalization and to actively use artificial intelligence itself. He believes that this approach would enable processes to be streamlined and accelerated significantly.
The minister also promoted the idea of a digital wallet, dubbed “eID” which would be issued to every German citizen. This digital wallet would store identification, driver’s licenses, credit cards and certificates and would be open to multiple providers and standards.
Wildberger reiterated his promise to eliminate 20 percent of administrative regulations. Additionally, he pledged to accelerate the expansion of the country’s digital infrastructure, including the construction of data centers. Germany currently relies heavily on cloud services from three US-based providers, Amazon, Microsoft and Google, with around 65 percent of public cloud services coming from these companies. Wildberger emphasized the need for the country to develop its own “digital players” based on its own values.