Europe

This article was published in Corriere della Sera today. Automatic translation below (with some corrections):

The urgent need for Europe: to quickly achieve self-sufficiency in digital services

*Survey DisclAImer by SWG

For 55% of citizens, the priority is to invest in artificial intelligence to avoid dependence on other countries But restrictions on AI are necessary*

Corriere della Sera, 17 March 2026

• Riccardo Luna

The blocking of digital services by the United States is a plausible hypothesis for almost nine out of ten Europeans. It is the most sensational data of the research conducted by the DisclAImer observatory that will be presented today to the European Parliament during an event in which the two Italian vice presidents Pina Picierno and Antonella Sberna will take part; so will the MEPs Brando Benifei and Letizia Moratti; the Director General of the DG Connect of the European Commission Roberto Viola and the president of the Delors institute Enrico Letta.

The observatory was created a few months ago, with the contribution of Intesa Sanpaolo bank, as part of the project of Corriere della Sera and Cineca, to deepen the impacts of artificial intelligence through research conducted by SWG. The first report was on journalism. This second report, made by interviewing a sample of citizens from twenty-seven EU countries, is entitled " Our Digital Sovereignty", an issue that has become increasingly urgent every day since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, given all the tensions that are currently unfolding. The fundamental problem is that the European Union over time has accumulated a considerable technological lag, in the meantime carving out a role as regulator of the digital revolution. How important is this delay? And does the restart imply a waiver of the rules? Around these two questions revolves the whole research.

As for the first issue, for six out of ten Europeans technological delay exists but only 12 percent of respondents say that "there is no hope anymore"; 77 percent believe that if we wake up we can still compete with the United States and China. Among the most pessimistic are precisely the Italians; Spaniards and Poles are more confident in resilience. This delay is experienced as a tangible risk for the functioning of critical infrastructure (in the lead: industry, defence and banks) and therefore for democratic resilience. In fact, the hypothesis that the United States one day "for reasons of political or commercial expediency, may limit or suddenly interrupt European countries 'access to their digital services, causing unimaginable damage" is seen as a concrete and current risk by 59 percent of respondents, a figure that speaks volumes about how our perception of the world has changed in the first twelve months of Trump's presidency (the questionnaire was administered at the end of January).

With these premises, a European route to artificial intelligence and the cloud (to name two of the most relevant technologies), is seen as a top priority by the majority of respondents (55 percent, a figure that is growing strongly in southern European countries). How to get there? Here we come to the second major theme of the questionnaire: a judgment on the regulatory approach taken so far by the EU. In fact, in the last decade significant legislation has been enacted to regulate privacy (GDPR), digital services and markets (DSA and DMA) and finally the development of artificial intelligence (AI Act). These regulations have been a major source of hardship and contention for American tech companies, but some argue that they have also hindered the growth of large European firms in these sectors.

What is the opinion of European citizens regarding this regulatory initiative? Has it stifled innovation? The verdict is surprising: for six out of ten Europeans, rules and principles are our real strength in technological development while the race of countries such as the United States is seen as "unregulated and irresponsible". This is a very clear-cut assessment that comes just as discussions are underway in Brussels on how to ease certain restrictions, particularly regarding privacy and artificial intelligence.

This vision of technological progress centred on values and principles is also reflected in the perception of the risks and benefits of artificial intelligence. Public opinion appears split exactly down the middle, although concerns about applications in the fields of justice, healthcare, and law enforcement are worth noting, with particularly high levels of caution in Spain, Italy, and Poland. The main risks are similar: fake news and the creation of fake, highly realistic videos. There is significant demand for ways to combat the phenomenon: in fact, one in two Europeans is willing to sacrifice freedom of expression, a figure derived from the 46 percent who call for “the rapid removal of dangerous or illegal false content.”

Finally, an answer that opens up some interesting possibilities. The question was: where can we attract talent to help Europe close the technological gap? Twenty-one percent believe that think that we should look at Africa and other developing countries; but as many as 51% think that we should bet on Americans or Europeans who emigrated to the United States for study or work. Like Dario Amodei, the co-founder of Anthropic, who recently broke with the Pentagon about some military uses of the Claude linguistic model. The mayor of London offered him to move there with his whole company. But if there were a similar proposal from a European country or the European Union, public opinion would be in favour.