Louis Mosley, head of Palantir’s U.K. and Europe operations, cautioned that Europe is repeating past mistakes regarding artificial intelligence (AI) similar to those made during the internet’s emergence. In an interview with CoinDesk, Mosley noted that while the U.S. capitalized on the internet to foster numerous businesses and establish a robust digital economy, Europe “missed the boat.”
The disparity in market growth between the two regions over the past two decades emphasizes this point. Mosley highlighted that Europe and the U.S. had comparable GDP per capita, capital-market depth, and company scale roughly 20 years ago. However, since then, the U.S. has experienced significant growth, while Europe’s advancement has stagnated.
Despite past waves of technology leading to the rise of European champions, Mosley pointed out that the internet era resulted in very few successes from the continent, with ASML being a notable exception. “It’s by far and away the largest European company,” he remarked, stressing that the true value lies within the tech sector.
Mosley expressed concern that the development of AI will have even more profound implications. He noted that many European corporations are taking a cautious approach, exhibiting hesitancy with attitudes like “This is new, that means it could be risky. I’ll wait and see.” This reluctance, according to Mosley, could hinder Europe’s ability to effectively engage with AI technologies and limit potential opportunities.
