At TechBBQ, European tech leaders grapple with who controls AI

The annual TechBBQ conference in Copenhagen this month became a forum for European technology leaders to wrestle with a fundamental question: who should govern artificial intelligence? Across formal panels and informal gatherings, industry executives, investors, and entrepreneurs returned repeatedly to concerns about dependency on AI systems controlled by foreign powers.

The sovereignty wake-up call#

The anxiety intensified following Anthropic's decision earlier this year to restrict its Mythos and Fable models outside Europe, a move that rattled the region's startup community. The incident crystallized worries about what it truly means to build on technology developed and owned elsewhere, rather than developing homegrown infrastructure and models. While some founders acknowledged the practical disruption, others suggested that deferring to U.S. and Chinese tech dominance might eventually exact a steeper cost.

The conference's stated theme—"Emerging from Agency"—proved unexpectedly apt. Rather than debating what AI could accomplish, attendees grappled with deeper questions about human control and consent. Ellen de Brever, a venture investor and partnerships lead at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, observed that conversations had shifted fundamentally: "the debates weren't about smarter machines, but about human judgment and who gets to stay in the driver's seat."

Privacy and integration at odds#

Signal president Meredith Whittaker, speaking on a privacy-focused panel, articulated a sharp critique of seamless AI integration into consumer systems. She argued that major AI labs employ sophisticated marketing to obscure the data-collection implications of deploying assistants within operating systems—drawing a line at ChatGPT's expansion into messaging platforms. "There is still a huge market need for privacy," Whittaker said, flagging that sovereignty-conscious customers would likely seek alternatives.

The concentration of power#

Emad Mostaque, co-founder of Stability AI and Intelligent Internet, framed sovereignty as "the ability to resist power being exerted over you." He warned of deepening concentration, suggesting that the ability to control AI systems will increasingly determine national influence. The observation resonated with attendees who saw echoes of earlier technological transitions—yet with higher stakes for labor, democracy, and economic participation.

Mia Negru, advocacy director for the nonprofit Life With Artificials, reflected on the scale of change ahead: potential upheaval in ownership models, definitions of work, and the structure of democratic participation if intelligent agents become the primary drivers of cognitive and physical labor.