BERLIN, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- A German company dedicated to AI technologies has said in a recent interview with Xinhua that Germany is lagging behind in AI sector.
"The AI sector is, in my opinion, one of the industries of the future in which Germany is lagging behind most dramatically," said Dirk Gratzel, founder and CEO of Precire Technologies, Germany's leading company for AI-based language analysis.
"Germany is a country of engineers and mechanics, and we are excellent at that. However, it is not without reason that there is no such thing as a world-class German AI company. Innovations in this sector coming from German companies are very rare," Gratzel said.
According to Gratzel, this is mainly due to a lack of access to capital for start-ups. Other countries, such as the United States, invest a much larger share of their gross national product in venture capital than Germany. German bureaucracy's "complicated official channels and unattractive processes" make it even more difficult for young entrepreneurs, especially in the digital sector, where time is of the essence.
In July, the German government adopted the first key points of its "master plan" for artificial intelligence, which was stipulated in the coalition agreement of the current government. This master plan is intended, among other things, to support new professorships for AI-related university degrees and "promote the networking of existing competence centers with research institutions".
The Precire CEO warned that the booming economy in Germany has led to the complacent conclusion that good times are here to stay.
But if the economic situation in Germany deteriorated, it would be very difficult to catch up with other countries, especially in the AI sector. "The advantage other countries have is gigantic," Gratzel stated.
