Michael Backer
17 Jun 2026Fable 5 Recall, EU’s AI Plan, UK Ban U16 Socials, Le Chaton Fat, Hex Sponsor etn
49:4616 min
Michael Backer: Europe 2031 & the AI Compute Gap
Michael Backer, DeepMind researcher and MIT professor and co-author of the viral Europe 2031 piece, explains why Europe must wake up: 75% of AI compute sits in the US versus 5% in Europe. He lays out the piece's prescriptions — massive data center buildout, nurturing the semiconductor ecosystem around ASML, and a 'middle power coalition' with countries like Korea, Japan, the UK, Australia and Canada to create leverage over frontier-model access. He describes the overwhelming reception, including a Dutch minister and a head of state who gave his staff 45 minutes to extract the key parts.