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Why the UK and EU are falling so Behind in AI?
07 Aug 2026
Dinis Guarda - Citiesabc - AI.DNA - Humans + Cities + AI Soul Convergence - Newsletter #29
citiesabc.com with Businessabc.net intelligenthq.com wisdomia.ai
Dear Friends
For the past few years, the AI race has been framed as a contest of intelligence: Who can build the most powerful model?
That framing is becoming obsolete.
AI is now a contest for economic power, compute, infrastructure, industrial capacity and technological sovereignty. The US commands extraordinary concentrations of capital and compute. China is scaling an increasingly formidable state-backed AI ecosystem. Meanwhile, the UK and EU increasingly face an interesting question: are they becoming rule-makers in a technological world increasingly built by others?
The model geopolitical landscape, on the other hand, itself is fragmenting. Frontier reasoning models are pushing the limits of intelligence. Autonomous coding systems are moving from assisting engineers to performing increasingly complex engineering work. Open-weight models are dramatically changing the economics of deployment, while Chinese labs are challenging assumptions about how much cutting-edge AI should cost.
So, Instead of asking who is winning the AI model race, should we be asking who will own, deploy and capture the economic value of intelligence itself?
Editorial highlight
The Global AI Race - Why are the UK, EU falling behind in AI?
AI is becoming a battle for economic power, infrastructure and technological sovereignty. While the US dominates capital and compute, and China scales state-backed AI capacity, Europe risks becoming dependent on systems it does not own. But the race is not over: the real opportunity may be in AI adoption, industrial deployment and sovereign capability.
→ Explore the full article in Businessabc: https://businessabc.net/the-global-ai-race
Our Weekly Research
AI is fragmenting across frontier reasoning, autonomous coding and open-weight efficiency. US labs lead high-end capability, China is pushing cost-performance, and Europe is focusing on open and locally governed models.
Gemini has passed 950M monthly users, while open-weight models can cut serving costs by up to 5x–34x.
→ Explore the full article in IntelligentHQ: https://www.intelligenthq.com/top-ai-models-in-2026/
Featured Personalities interviews in Dinis Guarda Citiesabc Businessabc IntelligentHQ Show
Jérémy de Champris – Smith Pearlson, Multidisciplinary Artist, Anime Creator and Music Composer
What happens when a near-death experience becomes the beginning of a completely new creative identity? Jérémy De Champris shares his journey from severe life-altering injuries to artistic rebirth, exploring resilience, recovery, Japanese culture, anime, music, visual storytelling, and the creation of the Smith Pearlson universe. The conversation also looks at how creativity can become a tool for rebuilding purpose, identity and hope after profound personal change. Watch the interview
Louize Clark – AI and Digital Transformation Consultant, Founder of Keeping A Head
How can businesses embrace AI while keeping people at the centre? Louize Clark explores digital transformation, digital twins, AI governance, emotional intelligence and building future-ready organisations. Watch the interview
Daniel Doll-Steinberg – Co-Founder of EdenBase, Atari Token Project, Former EU/UK Advisor
What happens when frontier technology, investment and policy converge to shape the next generation of business? Daniel Doll-Steinberg explores blockchain, AI, digital transformation, frontier technologies, the future of work, responsible innovation, Society 5.0, and how entrepreneurs and governments can work together to build technology with meaningful economic and social impact. Watch the interview
Penny Power OBE - Founder of Business is Personal - BIP100 Club
What happens when business stops being transactional and becomes deeply human? Penny Power OBE explores authentic networking, emotional intelligence, community-led growth, resilience, AI, the future of work, and why trust and human connection are becoming the most valuable assets in the digital economy.. Watch the interview
AI Tools Worth Your Attention
Presented by: Neural4D
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→ Explore more: https://www.neural4d.com/home
Presented by: Dola AI
AI Scheduling Assistant – on Conversational Productivity
What if managing your schedule, communication, and daily tasks didn’t require switching between multiple apps? Dola AI is redefining productivity with an AI-powered assistant that integrates directly into messaging platforms, enabling users to schedule, organise, and automate tasks through natural language. It combines chat-based interaction, real-time calendar syncing, and multi-modal inputs to streamline workflows and reduce friction in everyday decision-making.
→ Watch more in my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dbnx7yZK3WT/
Our Weekly Industry highlights
Kanishka Narayan Championing UK EU Global Ambitions in AI - Pallavi Singal
Kanishka Narayan, Britain’s first Minister for Artificial Intelligence, is positioning the UK around sovereign AI, flexible regulation and global leadership, backed by new investment in startups, compute, open-source AI, regional growth zones and a national target to train 10 million workers in AI skills by 2030.
Investors in Europe to target: How will AI neolabs make money? - Sara Srifi
Sifted is evolving from an FT-backed startup publication into a wider intelligence platform, combining journalism, verified data, rankings and market analysis to help founders and investors navigate Europe’s fragmented tech ecosystem.
UK Launches PM's AI Taskforce, Placing AI at the Heart of Government - Pallavi Singal
The UK has launched a new PM’s AI Taskforce chaired by Lord Vallance, placing AI directly at the centre of government strategy. The unit will focus on growth, public service transformation, national competitiveness and delivering AI adoption across the country.
The Intelligent Storefront: How AI Is Rewriting Fashion E-Commerce on Shopify - Sara Srifi
AI is reshaping fashion e-commerce through personalisation, conversational discovery, virtual try-on and agent-led shopping. For Shopify brands, the opportunity is to remove friction while preserving trust, identity and the human experience that drives loyalty.
Stellar Migrator for Exchange Review: Can It Really Deliver a Zero-Downtime Exchange to Microsoft 365 Migration? - Sujal Sokande
Stellar Migrator for Exchange offers IT teams a guided way to move Exchange mailboxes to Microsoft 365 with minimal disruption, using delta sync, parallel migrations, pre-migration validation and selective retries to keep cutover downtime to a minimum.
Special Highlight
Top 50 Thought Leaders, Analysts & Influencers on IoT (2026)
I’m honoured to be recognised by Thinkers360 as one of the Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on IoT for 2026.
IoT is no longer simply about connected devices. It is becoming the nervous system of our cities, businesses and critical infrastructure — bringing together AI, data, digital identity and automation in real time.
Congratulations to all the leaders recognised this year:
Evan Kirstel , Ronald van Loon , Tom Raftery , Dr. Sunil Kumar Vuppala , Prof. Muhammad Khurram Khan, Ph.D. , Stephanie Atkinson, MBA , Dr. Mazlan Abbas , Vishal Bhandari, Olivier Bloch , Ralf Ladner Jeff Winter , Helen Yu , Kashif Saleem , Shaweta Berry , Dr. Damodar Sahu, PhD , Prayukth K V , Robbrecht van Amerongen , Elmustafa Sayed Ali, P.hD, SSYB, SFC, SEC, IAENG , Karl A L Smith FBCS , Rob Tiffany, Kashyap Kompella, CFA , Kayne McGladrey, CISSP , Alan Mihalic, Robin Tommy , Rajashree Rao, Nitin Kumar , Peggy Smedley , Dr. Mehmet Yildiz , Gert Botha , W. David Stephenson, Chuck Martin , Vinay Solanki, Antonio Grasso , Ahmad Malkawi , William McCabe, Prof. Bill Buchanan OBE, Ryan Hamze, Vladimer Botsvadze, Ph.D. , Sally Eaves , Mark Lynd, Jeff Daniels, Vijay Raghunathan, Hervé Legenvre, Aleksandra Przegalinska, Gianandrea Daverio, Jeff Kagan, Marsha Collier, Adnyesh Dalpati and Yasser Ismail.
- Read more: https://dinisguarda.medium.com/top-50-global-thought-leaders-and-influencers-on-iot-for-2026-1b7c265fc753
- Discover Thinkers360 in businessabc: https://businessabc.net/wiki/thinkers360
AI Creation Spotlight
The greatest love story ever told isn't Aphrodite or Venus passions, Romeo and Juliet or Layla and Majnun – it's the 13.8-billion-year romance between existence and consciousness, matter learning to love itself through us. We are the universe's way of experiencing love, its organs of perception and expression, its method of writing love letters to itself across time and space.
Here's my reflection of Love DNA. Enjoy!
→ Know more about Love DNA in Wisdomia: https://wisdomia.ai/a-time-traveller-s-matrix-to-the-human-s-and-the-source-code-of-the-universe-s-heart
Author and Book Spotlight
Living with the Algorithm: Servant or Master? By Lord Tim Clement-Jones
What happens when algorithms become powerful enough to shape the choices we make, the services we use and the institutions around us? In Living with the Algorithm: Servant or Master?, Lord Tim Clement-Jones explores AI governance, regulation, accountability and the growing need to keep human values at the centre of technological progress.
- Watch the full interview on the Dinis Guarda YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4cnGxHkIAI
- Read more about: https://businessabc.net/wiki/timothy-francis-clement-jones
- Where to buy it
Quote to think about it over and over again
“Nations have a narrow window to decide whether they shape AI or get shaped by it. Britain is in that window right now... While that window is still open... I will focus relentlessly on securing British influence in shaping AI.” - Kanishka Narayan MP
Read more about Kanishka Narayan: https://businessabc.net/wiki/kanishka-narayan
What Would You Like me to Explore More?
Your feedback helps shape our research, conversations, and creations.
Stay tuned as our journey to ensuring a human-centric AI continues.
Grateful for having you here.
Dinis Guarda
With Pallavi Singal and Sara Srifi
My weekly special spotlight freebies for you!
- Research: How to Become the CEO of Your Own Life: The Ultimate Framework for the AI Era
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- Businessabc wikis - Own Your AI ID Wiki Profile
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Dinis Guarda
Dinis Guarda is an author, entrepreneur, founder CEO of ztudium, Businessabc, citiesabc.com and Wisdomia.ai. Dinis is an AI leader, researcher and creator who has been building proprietary solutions based on technologies like digital twins, 3D, spatial computing, AR/VR/MR. Dinis is also an author of multiple books, including "4IR AI Blockchain Fintech IoT Reinventing a Nation" and others. Dinis has been collaborating with the likes of UN / UNITAR, UNESCO, European Space Agency, IBM, Siemens, Mastercard, and governments like USAID, and Malaysia Government to mention a few. He has been a guest lecturer at business schools such as Copenhagen Business School. Dinis is ranked as one of the most influential people and thought leaders in Thinkers360 / Rise Global’s The Artificial Intelligence Power 100, Top 10 Thought leaders in AI, smart cities, metaverse, blockchain, fintech.
