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European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Keynote speech by Commissioner Kubilius at the AI in Defence Summit 2026 Brussels, 2 February 2026 Good morning. It's a challenge to speak to you about Artificial Intelligence, as you – or Artificial Intelligence, which you are using – know much more about AI and defence than I can tell in my key-note. That is why I want to apologize in advance, as I still wrote m...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Keynote speech by Commissioner Kubilius at the AI in Defence Summit 2026 Brussels, 2 February 2026 Good morning. It's a challenge to speak to you about Artificial Intelligence, as you – or Artificial Intelligence, which you are using – know much more about AI and defence than I can tell in my key-note. That is why I want to apologize in advance, as I still wrote my speech personally. Not by AI. I am among those, who still believe that even in times of artificial intelligence there will be a place for personal political thoughts, ideas and personal understanding of our common challenges. I would like to start by reminding, that Isaac Asimov, the famous science fiction writer, once said: “ Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. AI. What is happening with artificial intelligence and AI in defence is like magic. Like magic, but it ' s not magic. It ' s hard work. Skill. Talent. So, I just wanted to start by saying: you are doing a great job. Without you, without AI for our defence in the European Union, there will be no European defence readiness. Because artificial intelligence is already a reality on the battlefield. Used by China, and by Russia. Massively used by Ukraine. For us in EU there is an existential defence challenge – how not to stay behind. Not only behind our adversaries, but also behind our transatlantic partners. Our independence in defence depends on how disruptive and effective we shall be in the development on new technologies, and how disruptive we shall be in our mindset how to organize our defence. Just few facts which we know: Ukraine ' s armed forces successfully use Artificial Intelligence, for example to assist targeting. And Ukraine is developing “ mothership drones” powered by artificial intelligence. The GOGOL-M Mothership can carry two attack drones, that deliver precision strikes at a range of 300 kilometres. But not only Ukraine is developing AI for drones. So is Russia. Russia is also using AI and Machine Learning for targeting. Russia is also building mothership drones. And Russia is now testing swarm drones of two to six drones. on the battlefield. And not only Russia – China is making big leaps forward on AI and warfare. In December China launched a huge mothership drone. Big as a Boeing, with a 6 tonne capacity. And just two weeks ago China showed a soldier commanding a swarm of 200 drones. Swarms like these could not only threaten soldiers at the front. But could be launched anywhere from ships. At all the coasts of Europe. We ' re at the start of a revolution. A world revolution in AI warfare. And you are the pioneers. Europe needs you to make sure Europe won ' t stay behind. You can count on the full support of the European Union. We support our innovators with our defence funds. The European Defence Fund is the third biggest investor in defence innovation in Europe. With 5.4 billion euro now committed to 225 projects. And we ' re especially welcoming to new kids on the block. Last year, nearly 80 per cent of grants went to new innovators. And more than 40 per cent went to small, high-tech companies. The EDF has committed 800 million to projects related to AI and digital and cyber defence. Projects on: · Adaptive Swarm Platforms. “ Collective brains” to coordinate swarms of drones. To autonomously carry out mission objectives. · Speech recognition and translation. To automatically translate radio messages in real time. Of course essential, in a multinational, EU coalition. · AI and augmented reality. To highlight critical threats on a soldier ' s display. Preventing information overload. · To fuse data to detect threats: Optical, radar, infrared. So, the EU supports you, to develop AI for our defence. Maybe our investments are still behind the numbers, what US or China are investing into AI for defence, but we are radically increasing defence investments. But to win this race, we need to do more than put AI in a drone or a tank. Do more than just support development of other disruptive technologies for defence, like quantum technologies. We need to unleash radical defence innovation not only on supply side, but also on demand side. Not only support transformation of defence industry, but also use disruptive approaches to radically change procurement of innovative technologies, or military training and military understanding of modern warfare doctrines. You cannot be ready for defence, if soldiers are trained only how to use traditional guns, bullets and ammunition, but they are not trained how to shoot down kamikaze drones, because military authorities consider these drones inventory, which cannot be lost during training. That ' s why we need to learn from Ukraine, not only how to produce the drone or how to put AI into the drone. But also how to create the whole ecosystem, which would allow industries to produce and deliver to militaries the most modern weapons, which were designed and produced during the last half a year, not only the years before. Ukraine has the most dynamic defence industry in Europe. That is why we ' ve set up the BraveTechEU initiative – sharing knowledge and linking EU companies to Ukrainian companies. And we ' re setting up the Drone Alliance with Ukraine. And we want to unleash your talent for Europe ' s defence readiness, by creating an environment in which you as innovators can grow and succeed. Ukraine's experience is an inspiration and a goal for our Defence Transformation Roadmap: To create a defence innovation and industry ecosystem. Like Ukraine ' s Brave initiative. The “ Amazon for the battlefield” We want to connect you as innovators directly to industry, to defence ministries, to soldiers in the field. Bring a disruptive approach to supply but also to demand. To respond quickly to developing needs. So if a military unit protecting the border says: We need a piece of kit. Armies and defence ministries can order it, innovators can develop it, industry can build it. There are limits. First: We are the “good guys”. We don ' t fund weapons forbidden by international law. Or “ killer robots” without human oversight. We protect our values by respecting our values. But it would be important also to defend them with the most modern weapons. Especially if our adversaries will use these kinds of weapons to attack our values. And second, AI is not perfect. It ' s vulnerable to cyber attacks and enemy AI. It is unpredictable and makes mistakes. AI can make the difference in hitting a target. But still can ' t always tell the difference between a tank and a tractor. We will always need human oversight. But the biggest obstacle is not in the technology. It ' s in our cooperation. Fragmentation and lack of unity is our most painful weakness in European defence. And that ' s bad for AI. Because we all know AI needs big data. That ' s why we fund the Project called “ Store”. To create the first shared, sovereign European database of defense images. Images needed for example for target recognition. Which are now scattered over national databases. And we need a sovereign military data cloud, not to be dependent on somebody else. But we need to be even more ambitious. It ' s not good enough if you develop amazing technology. If that cannot be built at scale and deployed quickly. We cannot afford delays of five years, ten years. Putin will not wait, for us to build strong AI for our defence. And here is an important role for the Member States. The Member States are responsible for defence. We now need the Member States to show leadership to develop European defence. European leadership. To be ready to fight as Europe. With a disruptive approach. To be ready to fight the wars of tomorrow, not the last war again. Last year the European Council set AI as one of its defence priorities. And most other capabilities defined by the European Council will need AI. Like: · Air and missile defence. · Drone and counter drone capabilities. · Deep precision strike. In the last year we have created a lot of opportunities for our defence ramp up. Like 150 billion euro in SAFE loans, backed by the EU budget. And Member States have pledged to spend 6.8 trillion euro on defence by 2035. But there ' s a big danger now they will spend this national money mainly national. A big risk, that we will end up with 27 fragmented AI capabilities. Or without AI capabilities at all, which would be able to match Chinese or American capabilities. Or even Russian ones. So I call on Member States: join forces to develop AI together for our defence. Because we need now to become a European giant in defence, a European giant in AI. And we can do it. Not long ago, robots and AI were science fiction. And now they are becoming reality. And not long ago, a Europe united in its defence, was also science fiction. And now it is becoming a reality. Your work on AI shows: we are capable of anything. And if we can build amazing technology on this continent, then surely, we can also unite as a European Union in our defence. SPEECH/26/302
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