I spent 2 days at Axel Springer's AI summit. My takeaway was that Germany wants to fight like hell to stay in the AI arms race.

Dominik Tryba/Welt

This week, Axel Springer hosted business leaders and politicians to debate the present and future of artificial intelligence.WeltFull disclosure: Axel Springer and our emcee, CEO Mathias Döpfner, own Business Insider.Mathias Döpfner.WeltThe sleek, futuristic set, ringed with microphones, notebooks, and coffee, made me feel like I was on the bridge of a starbase.Jakob Hoff/WeltOpenAI's Sam Altman may run a startup, but Berlin greeted him as a visiting head of state.Sam Altman and Mathias Döpfner.Axel SpringerHe'd brought good news. OpenAI said Wednesday it will partner with German software giant SAP to enable millions of the country's public sector employees to use ChatGPT.Philipp Herzig, chief technology officer and chief AI officer at SAPWeltGermany is OpenAI's fifth-largest market, and "virtually all" Germans ages 18 to 24 use ChatGPT, Altman said.Jakob Hoff/WeltDöpfner recited a popular criticism of Europe that it regulates new technology before it can take root. He asked if a more iterative approach to rule-making made sense.Jakof Hoff/Welt"The tech is moving so fast," Altman said, "that trying to write the regulation now and have it be correct over decades to come is an impossible task."Jakob Hoff/WeltAltman proclaimed fusion the "end state of power on earth."Dominik Tryba/WeltAnd he forecast a flood of small to midsize businesses run by solo founders and ChatGPT.Jakob Hoff/WeltAs their talk wrapped up, I slipped into the hallway to try to catch Altman on his way out.Jakob Hoff/WeltSuccess! We talked about his meeting with the German chancellor and the changing visa policy back home.Our reporter Melia Russell flew 3,950 miles to talk to Sam Altman for two minutes.Jakob Hoff/WeltAltman is a tough act to follow. Maybe that's why organizers put Germany's version of Elon Musk onstage next.Federal Minister Karsten Wildberger addresses the room at the Welt AI Summit in Berlin on September 25, 2025.Dominik Tryba/WeltKarsten Wildberger is Germany's first-ever federal minister for digital transformation and government modernization. Think DOGE for Deutschland.Karsten Wildberger, German Federal Minister for Digitization and Government Modernization; Peter Sarlin, chief executive officer of AMD Silo AI; Ludwig Ensthaler, general partner at 468 Capital; and Philipp Herzig, chief technology officer and chief AI officer of SAP SE participate in a panel discussion on Europe's fight to stay in the AI arms race.Jakob Hoff/WeltHe wants to scale back regulation. "We have to start to open up the gates and allow our companies to innovate much, much faster," he said.German Federal Minister Kerstner Wildberger.WeltDeregulation became the battle cry of the day.Andreas Mundt, president of the German Federal Cartel Office (second from left); Axel Voss, a member of the European Parliament for Germany (middle); Dr. Julia Reuss, Meta's director of public policy for central Europe (second from right); and Microsoft's Samer Abu-Ltaif (right) participate in a panel discussion on striking the right balance between regulation and innovation.Jakob Hoff/WeltEntrepreneurs and politicians asked how else they could jump-start Germany's tech hub.Jakob Hoff/WeltOne venture capitalist said Germany has an abundance of seed capital, but not enough growth capital to help startups scale. So they end up migrating to other countries.Jakob Hoff/WeltRichard Socher, a German-born founder who runs You.com, pointed out that venture capital translates as "risk capital" in German. He said this indicates that Germans often focus more on the downsides than the potential rewards.Richard Socher, founder and CEO of You.com.WeltThe last speaker gave the room a pep rally buzz more than a conference vibe.Dr. Matthias Metz, chief executive officer of BSH Home Appliances Group, and Nicole Büttner-Thiel, chief executive officer of Merantix Momentum, join a discussion.Jakob Hoff/WeltPalantir's Alex Karp dialed in to motivate the Germans. He cheered Germany's focus on vocational schools and "a culture of industrialization that's second to none."WeltKarp, a fluent German speaker who studied at a university in Frankfurt, argued that Germany shouldn't try to clone Silicon Valley but instead define its own model — one that draws on the country's strengths and channels its native talent.Axel Springer"You're not going to build Silicon Valley in Germany," Karp said, "You're going to build a German version."Jakob Hoff/Welt