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At VivaTech, Europe confronts AI's cybersecurity risks and sovereignty gaps while businesses demand proof that AI spending delivers real returns.

Fortune AI6h ago7 min read
At VivaTech, Europe confronts AI's cybersecurity risks and sovereignty gaps while businesses demand proof that AI spending delivers real returns.

Key takeaway

VivaTech highlighted Europe's growing anxiety over AI-driven cybersecurity threats and deepening dependence on U.S. technology providers. Advanced AI models can now find unknown vulnerabilities and create working exploits at scale, raising concerns that defenders may fall behind attackers if the window of controlled access closes too quickly. Meanwhile, European businesses and policymakers are reckoning with the reality that the U.S. can unilaterally cut off access to frontier AI models, spurring calls for sovereign AI infrastructure—though executives disagree on whether true sovereignty is realistic or pragmatic.

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3 Key Points

  • What happened

    VivaTech, Europe's largest startup conference, drew 180,000 attendees in Paris and surfaced three urgent concerns: advanced AI models like Anthropic's Mythos and OpenAI's GPT-5.5 Cyber can now find vulnerabilities and generate working exploits at speed and scale; Europe faces a deepening dependence on U.S.-controlled AI infrastructure after the U.S. cut off access to Anthropic's frontier models; and enterprise customers are shifting from chasing AI hype to demanding concrete business cases and return on investment.

  • Why it matters

    The window where defenders have better AI tools than attackers may close quickly, creating a security gap as criminal groups and nation-state actors gain access before organizations can patch systems. Europe's vulnerability to U.S. policy decisions (exemplified by the sudden Anthropic cutoff) has made AI sovereignty—control over chips, data centers, and deployment—a pressing political priority for governments and companies. For businesses, the shift toward ROI scrutiny means AI budgets will be evaluated on whether they deliver measurable value, not just technological capability.

  • What to watch

    OpenAI expanded its Daybreak initiative by pairing GPT-5.5 Cyber with an open-source patching effort called Patch the Planet, working with firms including Cloudflare, Cisco, and CrowdStrike to help organizations find and fix vulnerabilities. Anthropic and OpenAI have both staggered releases of their advanced cyber models to give defenders initial access before broader availability. The debate over sovereignty revealed diverging views: some executives like Cohere's CEO call for domestically controlled infrastructure, while Amazon's Peter DeSantis argues that fully sovereign infrastructure is unrealistic and a pragmatic approach focusing on data residency and governance is more practical.

FAQ

What specific AI capabilities are causing the most concern at VivaTech?
Anthropic's Mythos and OpenAI's GPT-5.5 Cyber can now find unknown vulnerabilities in critical software and generate working exploits at speed and scale—tasks that once required time and specialized human knowledge. The worry is that criminal groups and nation-state actors will gain access before organizations have time to patch their systems.
How are Anthropic and OpenAI trying to manage the cybersecurity risk?
Both companies have staggered the release of their advanced cyber models, granting initial access only to vetted security firms and critical infrastructure operators so they can patch systems before capabilities spread more widely. OpenAI also expanded its Daybreak initiative by pairing GPT-5.5 Cyber with an open-source patching effort called Patch the Planet, working with firms like Cloudflare, Cisco, and CrowdStrike.
What does 'sovereign AI' mean, and why is Europe pushing for it now?
Sovereignty means different things to different actors: some, like Cohere's CEO, call for domestically controlled infrastructure (chips, power, data centers, and private deployment under national control), while others argue for strategic alliances to counter U.S. and China's grip on infrastructure. The U.S. decision to cut off access to Anthropic's frontier models gave the conversation new urgency, making Europe's dependence on U.S.-controlled AI feel much more real.

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