35 President of European Commission expects human-level AI by 2026

20th May 2025

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This is a linkpost for https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_25_1284

On May 20, during her speech at the Annual EU Budget Conference 2025, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, stated:

When the current budget was negotiated, we thought AI would only approach human reasoning around 2050. Now we expect this to happen already next year. It is simply impossible to determine today where innovation will lead us by the end of the next budgetary cycle. Our budget of tomorrow will need to respond fast.

This is remarkable coming from the highest-ranking EU official. It suggests the Overton window for AI policy has shifted significantly.

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President of European Commission expects human-level AI by 2026

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[-]niplav8mo100

> TFW Ursula von der Leyen has shorter timelines than you

[-]Anders Lindström8mo10

Brace for impact. Everyone with a desk job should start to plan for alternative exit strategies.

[-]Cole Wyeth8mo2-1

I don’t know, it doesn’t seem like this really provides much signal - she’s not an AI expert, is she? And 2026 seems fairly implausible.

[-]Amalthea8mo22

"Approaching human level" seems reasonable. I think one should just read this as her updating towards short timelines in general based on what experts say rather than her trying to make a prediction.

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President of European Commission expects human-level AI by 2026

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