In recent years, the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has become the focus of global technological competition. Especially under the promotion of technological powers such as the United States and China, the scope of application of AI has been expanding and its influence has been increasing. In order to remain competitive in this field, the EU recently announced a funding plan of up to 200 billion euros, aiming to accelerate the development and commercialization of AI technology. However, despite Germany's strong strength in artificial intelligence research, it has never been able to give birth to a successful AI company, which has attracted widespread attention and discussion.
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Björn Ommer, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Munich, Germany, pointed out that AI technology is giving birth to new business models, but Germany's progress in this field is relatively slow. Black Forest Labs, a startup he founded himself, developed an image generator that even attracted the attention of US venture capital firms and social media platform X. However, although Black Forest Lab has achieved certain results in the basic model market, this field is still dominated by giants such as OpenAI, Google and China's DeepSeek, and German companies have not performed well.
The basic model is a neural network formed by unsupervised learning and training on massive data, which can adapt to a variety of tasks. Another German AI company, Aleph Alpha, tried to launch a basic model, but ultimately failed to achieve the expected success and had to turn to providing customized AI applications to enterprises and government agencies. This case reflects Germany's challenges in the field of basic models and highlights its dilemma in the process of commercializing AI.
Professor Ommer believes that opportunities for German companies should focus on areas outside the basic models, such as medical care, customer communication and AI applications in specific industrial fields. Katharina Morik, founder of the Lamar Institute of Delman Technology and Artificial Intelligence, also pointed out that although Germany is leading the field of AI research, many outstanding talents have been lost to the United States due to the lack of long-term contracts. , resulting in Germany being unable to make full use of these talent resources. She stressed that German companies are not active enough in accepting and investing in AI technology, and many companies even want to obtain services at low cost or free. This attitude seriously restricts the commercialization process of AI technology.
Morrick further pointed out that Germany already has certain leading advantages in intelligent manufacturing, distributed and embedded systems, but if the potential of AI technology is not further developed, it may face the risk of being marginalized in the future. She called on German companies and governments to increase investment in AI technology to maintain their position in the global technological competition. Meanwhile, despite OpenAI's announcement that it will open an office in Munich, Morrick expressed concerns, believing that Germany should prioritize retaining local talents and ensure that domestic companies and industries can benefit from the development of AI technology.
Against this background, Professor Omer emphasized that there is a need for continuous efforts to promote the development of AI technology at the German and European levels. Although Germany does not need to create “perfect” AI, it is still crucial to continue to push for research on basic models, as future restrictions on technology acquisition will directly determine the country’s autonomy. Germany must find a balance between the research and development and commercialization of AI technology to ensure it has a strong position in the global technological competition.
To sum up, although Germany has strong strength in artificial intelligence research, its performance in the field of AI commercialization is not satisfactory. The loss of talent, insufficient investment in AI technology by enterprises, and competitive pressure in the field of basic models are all major challenges facing Germany. In order to maintain competitiveness in the future, Germany must increase investment in AI technology, retain local talents, and actively explore the application potential of AI in the fields of medical care, industry, etc. Only in this way can Germany gain a place in the global competition for artificial intelligence.