2026-01-28
7 分钟Artificial Intelligence Part 2 To the adopters, the spoils.
Europe is a laggard in model-making, but it can still win the race to apply AI.
Across the world, most businesses are still merely dipping their toes in artificial intelligence.
Not-so-Schneider Electric claims Peter Weckesser,
who oversees the digital efforts of the French maker of industrial equipment.
It has around 100 applications of the technology already in operation.
Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, reckons that these will result in around €400 million –
that's $470 million in annual savings for the company this year.
That amounts to less than 1.5% of its total costs.
But Mr.
Vekasar has his sights set much higher.
Eventually he declares there will be not a single product or function at Schneider Electric that will not be affected by artificial intelligence.
From cloud computing to 5G, European companies have tended to be slow in adopting new technologies.
Many feared that the same would happen with the most recent wave of so-called generative AI.
Yet, as Mr.
Vechiser's enthusiasm shows, there are reasons for optimism.
The opportunity is big.
Europe has a large industrial base and it is hunting for ways to boost economic growth.
It may have fallen behind in the race to produce cutting-edge AI models.
It built just three of them in 2024, compared with China's 15 and America's 40.