Schnitzer and Privitera: Germany should take AGI seriously
Philip Fox, 16 June 2025
The prospect of AGI – AI with human-level cognitive capabilities – is not being taken seriously enough in German political discourse, say Prof. Monika Schnitzer (German Council of Economic Experts) and KIRA’s Executive Director Daniel Privitera in an op-ed for FAZ.
Many experts believe AGI could arrive before 2030. While companies, researchers and governments across the world are preparing for AGI, Germany has so far failed to establish its own strategy.
However, Germany can still change course. Schnitzer and Privitera recommend three priorities for the new Federal Government:
“Warp speed” for new infrastructure: Build sovereign, secure compute capacity for training and inference, accelerate approval processes and expand energy infrastructure.
Play to its economic strengths: Capitalize on existing research talent and leverage industrial data and capacity to transform "intelligence on demand" into real-world value.
Increase state capacity: Create a German AI Security Institute modeled on international predecessors and make AGI preparedness a key theme in Friedrich Merz’s chancellorship and the new National Security Council.
If Germany wants to become an “AI nation” as announced in the current coalition agreement, Schnitzer and Privitera conclude, the new government must act ambitiously, and it must act now.