The European Union wants to catch up in the AI race by taking a cue from Ireland, an early adopter of the technology, which has rolled out the red carpet for data centers despite local backlashes.

Ireland showcased the role it aims to play in the technological revolution as it hosted an international AI summit in Dublin this week.

While the European Union is pushing for strong governance to limit the risks of AI becoming too powerful to control, the bloc also believes it must invest and exploit its potential to avoid falling further behind the United States and China.

"We need to make AI real for our competitiveness and for our industries," EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told the conference, attended by leading AI minds and executives including Google DeepMind chair Demis Hassabis and Microsoft president Brad Smith.

Around 20% of companies in the 27-country bloc used AI last year, with the adoption rate rising to 55% for the biggest businesses – figures the EU wants to see increase.

Most still use AI for relatively simple tasks, research shows.

Europe has around 5% of the world's data center capacity, while the United States has around 75% and China approximately 15%, according to Andrea Renda, director of research at  the CEPS think tank.

The EU wants to ramp up its capacity and is pouring billions of euros into so-called gigafactories made up of advanced AI processors and energy-efficient data centers for companies and research labs.

But that might not be enough.

"If you only build data-center capacity, you have not done much," Renda said, calling for "political leadership" to help "identify the roadblocks, the obstacles and the enablers of this transformation". 

The EU insists it is working on several fronts, mobilizing funds from various existing schemes and appointing a Siemens executive to push manufacturers to integrate the technology under a strategy called "Apply AI".

But Renda said the strategy had "zero" dedicated budget, warning that without "bold intervention, we are not going to be able to do this".

Ireland, already home to many US tech giants because of its minimal tax policies and favorable location, wants to help drive the momentum in Europe.

'Recognize AI's impact on humans'

"We have been to the forefront of every tech wave over recent decades, and we will be to the forefront of this one," Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin told the summit.

Yet while it boasts one of the highest adoption rates in the bloc, Ireland also shows some of the pitfalls of Europe's AI push.

Its heavy reliance on US giants runs counter to the EU's sovereignty efforts, and the rapid expansion of data centers is putting Irish infrastructure under increasing strain, especially its power grid, fueling local opposition.

The Central Statistics Office says data centres accounted for 23% of the country's electricity consumption last year – as much as all Irish households combined.

"A world record," said Patrick Bresnihan, a researcher at Maynooth University.

During a "counter-summit" held a few days before Wednesday's gathering, he said the centers employed just 3,300 people in total.

"Particularly in Ireland, I would say that we need a moratorium. So we need to press pause on data center development," he said, to give policymakers space "to think about what a more progressive green industrial strategy would look like".

Neil Bennett, a former tech worker attending the protest event, urged Irish leaders and senior officials "to recognize the human impact of AI on workers in Ireland".

The former translator has been deeply impacted by AI. After he lost his job because of the technology, he describes crossing "to the dark side" to work as a data operator.

But he soon became disillusioned when his new job was replaced – by AI.