THIS WEEK IN AI
Candice Bryant Consulting
Strategic Intelligence & Public Affairs
FAMILY FEUD
For the first time at the Munich Security Conference, tech sat “alongside tanks and treaties” as a pillar of global security. But the alliance that's supposed to secure the future spent most of the weekend contemplating whether it still exists.
This week, I'm tracking the mood coming out of Munich and the coinciding launch of the Trusted Tech Alliance.
For those already across the headlines, skip to "What I'm Watching" for insights, including why nobody wins when the family feuds.
MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE — The 62nd Munich Security Conference (Feb 13–15) convened over 1,000 participants from 115 countries amid what the conference report called an era of "wrecking-ball politics." German Chancellor Merz warned world order as we know it "no longer exists" and disclosed he had begun talks with French President Macron on European nuclear deterrence.
In a much covered speech, Secretary of State Rubio struck a more conciliatory tone than Vice President Vance a year prior, calling the U.S. "a child of Europe" and earning a standing ovation. However, European leaders' reactions ranged from calling the speech "very reassuring" to "a poisoned declaration of love.”
On the sidelines of the main event, 16 global tech companies launched the Trusted Tech Alliance, based on five principles for the safe use of technology.
WHAT I'M WATCHING
Nobody wins when the family feuds — except perhaps China.
It's been a rough year for the transatlantic alliance, plagued by disputes over defense spending, regulations, Greenland, and tariffs. And though Secretary Rubio may have succeeded in bringing down the temperature a bit, European leaders emerged from the weekend with the same resolve they came in with: they must "de-risk” from “all the big powers” — including the United States.
European cloud providers hold just 15 percent of their own market. Last year, the EU produced only three large foundation models compared to the U.S.'s 40 and China's 15. And experts say they’re "very unlikely" to hit their semiconductor targets by 2030.
While the West looks inward, Beijing is looking for openings. Euronews observed the debate on China took up surprisingly little space, "as if the West was focusing almost exclusively on the erosion of its own axis." Minutes after Rubio left the stage, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi took to the same podium to declare: "China and the EU are partners, not rivals."
Meanwhile, DeepSeek remains a wildcard, the Chinese military is adopting it, and China controls 90 percent of rare earth processing — the minerals essential to chips, batteries, and AI hardware.
But one positive signal coming out of the weekend: The Trusted Tech Alliance. The initiative, which some are calling the “United Nations of Tech,” is a form of parallel track diplomacy.
For the allies, the framework acknowledges a reality that's already here. NVIDIA's chips power the Deutsche Telekom AI factory in Munich. Microsoft is investing $10 billion in AI infrastructure in Portugal. U.S. tech is already inside the European sovereign stack.
The old alliance was built on tanks and treaties. The next one may be built on chips and code.
— Candice
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