EU leaders seek to tackle challenges at first ever AI summit

By Foo Yun Chee and Padraic Halpin

DUBLIN, Nov 13 (Reuters) - European Union leaders gather in Dublin on Friday for their first ever summit on artificial intelligence, to debate how the bloc can catch up with the United States and China and tackle funding issues and other problems.

The meeting comes amid mounting worries about a technology that promises to transform industries and societies but in recent months has caused alarm after a series of incidents involving rogue AI agents. There was further turmoil this week with the resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, leaving the industry without its biggest champion.

Leaders in Dublin will also assess how to overcome other problems such as red tape and set guardrails.

"Given the rapid pace of AI development, I believe that a first dedicated discussion, at leaders' level, is now needed on the opportunities presented by AI, as well as on its transformative effect on our economies and societies," European Council President Antonio Costa wrote in an invitation letter to EU leaders last week.

Mistral AI chief executive Arthur Mensch and Nobel Prize-winning AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton will brief EU leaders.

Europe will have to ramp up its efforts if it is to be an AI player. An initiative known as the Chips Act implemented three ​years ago looks likely to fall short of ​its goal to attract advanced manufacturing and double the bloc's share of the global chip market to 20% by ​2030.

A plan to build seven artificial intelligence gigafactories to house advanced ​AI processors, software, cloud technology, high-speed connectivity and data centres under one roof has yet to fully take off due to the fight among EU countries over spending on competitiveness in the bloc's 2028-2034 budget.

In addition to AI, leaders are also set to discuss Ukraine, which has since been added as a second major topic to the agenda, a day after US envoys Steve Witkoff and ​Jared Kushner flew into Dublin to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

EU leaders are likely to discuss European involvement in peace negotiations and potential security guarantees the EU could offer in the event of a ceasefire, a senior EU official said.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels; Editing by Susan Fenton)