European Approach to Artificial Intelligence: AI Continent Action Plan and Apply AI Strategy

The European Union’s approach to artificial intelligence (AI) is built on the principles of excellence and trust, with the dual aim of strengthening research and industrial capacity while safeguarding safety, ethics, and fundamental rights. The European AI Strategy aspires to position the EU as a global leader in AI, ensuring that its development and use remain human-centric and trustworthy. This vision is being translated into action through a comprehensive framework of concrete rules, policies, and initiatives that embody Europe’s commitment to responsible and innovative AI.

Building on previous initiatives, the April 2025 AI Continent Action Plan focuses on fostering the development of trustworthy AI technologies that enhance Europe’s competitiveness while upholding and promoting democratic values. It seeks to harness the benefits of AI across key sectors including healthcare, education, industry, and environmental sustainability to drive innovation and societal progress.

Launched in October 2025, the Apply AI Strategy complements the AI Continent Action Plan by focusing on the practical implementation of artificial intelligence across Europe. Its goal is to leverage AI’s transformative potential by promoting wider adoption and integration across key industrial and public sectors with particular attention to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and by providing targeted support to accelerate their digital transformation. 

The Apply AI Strategy aims to strengthen the EU’s capabilities to unlock the societal benefits of artificial intelligence from enabling more accurate healthcare diagnoses to improving the efficiency and accessibility of public services. It promotes an “AI-first” policy approach, encouraging companies to integrate AI as part of their solutions to address key challenges, while carefully weighing the opportunities and risks associated with the technology. 

As outlined in the Strategy document, the European Commission will support the development of frontier AI models and AI agents tailored to the needs of the manufacturing sector. Building on the Data Spaces for Manufacturing initiative and the forthcoming Data Union Strategy, the Commission will facilitate data pooling among industrial stakeholders through trusted third parties. This approach aims to ensure an adequate volume of training data while safeguarding intellectual property and data security, and, where appropriate, leveraging the data labs within AI Factories.