At Copenhagen’s TechBBQ gathering, Europe’s technology sector confronted an uncomfortable question: who actually controls the artificial intelligence reshaping the continent’s economy?
The answer remains far from settled. Investors, founders, and executives spent much of the conference wrestling with whether Europe can build independent AI models and computing infrastructure, or whether it will continue leaning on resources from the United States and China.
That anxiety sharpened earlier this year when Anthropic restricted access to its Mythos and Fable AI models for users outside Europe. Several startups reported direct disruption to their development teams. Yet some attendees argued foreign platform dependence does not yet pose an existential threat to European business.
The conversation has shifted decisively, according to Ellen de Brever, angel investor and Head of Partnerships at Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Cellerator. “The theme of agency at TechBBQ was particularly fitting this year, as the conversation shifted from what artificial intelligence can do to what we are actually prepared to allow it to do.”
Debates now center on human accountability rather than machine capability, she noted.
Privacy concerns dominated one key session. Signal President Meredith Whittaker criticized the embedding of AI assistants into operating systems, pointing to integrations like ChatGPT in iMessage. “This AI era is creating a data-collection mechanism,” she said. “Demand for privacy remains enormous, and given concerns about sovereignty, there will be customers for it here.”
Emad Mostaque, co-founder of Stability AI and Intelligent Internet, warned that concentrated control over computing power, models, and data could undermine economic resilience and political autonomy across entire nations.
Meanwhile, Mia Negru of the nonprofit Life with Artificial Intelligences framed the stakes in sweeping terms. If intelligent agents handle cognitive work and robots absorb physical labor, society must rethink ownership, work, democracy, and economic participation entirely.
Human control remained the central thread. Who sets boundaries for AI? Who owns critical infrastructure? Informal gatherings sponsored by Lovable, Nvidia, OpenAI, AWS Startups, and HSBC extended these debates well beyond the panel rooms.
