Shortly before the return flight from Beijing, two topics dominated Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier's interview for the report from Berlin: relations with China and the future in view of the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI). The Federal Government's digital summit starts in Berlin on Monday - the focus is on how Germany and Europe can survive in global technology competition.
Steinmeier makes it clear that he sees AI as one of the decisive challenges of the coming decades. "The application of artificial intelligence is taking place. It's not the question of whether, but the question of how," he says. The debate reminds him of discussions about globalization in the 1990s. Even back then, the question was ultimately not whether development would happen, but rather how politics and society would deal with it.
Europe must not lose touch
With regard to international competition, Steinmeier currently sees the USA and China ahead of Europe. Nevertheless, Germany must remain self-confident. German companies have great strengths, particularly in the industrial application of AI, for example in production and control processes.
It is therefore clear to the Federal President: Europe cannot afford to reject the technology. Anyone who wants to have a say in the rules for AI must also understand and master the technology. In his view, the economic consequences of a waiver would be significant.
Concern about consequences for democracy
At the same time, Steinmeier advocates for international rules of the game. The question of the controllability of AI is not a national, but a global challenge. In discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping, it became clear that the Chinese side also saw the need for rules and controls. In the long term, Steinmeier believes that such standards should, if possible, be developed under the auspices of the United Nations.
Steinmeier sees the real danger of AI not in factories or companies, but for democracy. Social networks are already a gateway for targeted disinformation and manipulation. AI could significantly expand such capabilities in the coming years.
"Democracy relies on its citizens' maturity and ability to judge. People must not become wards of a machine," warns the Federal President.
Unlike authoritarian states, which could potentially use AI to perfect social control, democratic societies rely on independent opinion formation. Citizens must therefore be enabled to recognize manipulated images, videos and other AI-generated content.
Movement in the trade dispute with China
In addition to the topic of AI, economic relations were the focus of Steinmeier's trip to China. At the same time, Chancellor Friedrich Merz was on a state visit to Singapore, South Korea and Japan.
After his talks with the Chinese leadership, Steinmeier sees signs that there could be movement in the deadlocked trade conflict between Europe and China. Xi signaled that Europe's concerns about trade imbalances were being taken seriously. At the same time, the Chinese President recognized the European Union as the central contact for resolving such disputes.
According to Steinmeier, Europe has no interest in a trade war. Instead, conflicts would have to be resolved through negotiations. He sees the initial results in the talks between the EU Commission and China as an encouraging signal.
Xi denies speculation about Ukraine
International security policy also played a role in the discussions, said Steinmeier in an interview with the deputy head of the ARD capital studio, Matthias Deiß. According to his own statement, Steinmeier raised reports about possible negotiations between China, Russia and the USA on the war against Ukraine directly with Xi Jinping.
According to the Federal President, Xi reacted with surprise to such reports and rejected them. There are no signs of preparation for such a summit. There will probably actually be a conversation between the USA, Russia and China on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzen. But this shouldn't be about Ukraine.
At the same time, Xi emphasized that the war is a European conflict and that Europe must be involved in possible negotiations for a peace solution.
Democracy remains a central issue
At the end of his term in office, Steinmeier has mixed feelings about the development of democratic societies. When he took office, there were already signs of increasing polarization in Western democracies. That is why the defense of democracy was a focus of his presidency.
He left it open what personal plans he had for the future: "There are a lot of nice people who know exactly what I should do afterwards." If he did all of that, he would have a schedule that would be even busier than the last few years and decades.
Even after leaving office, Steinmeier announced that the topic of democracy would continue to concern him. The challenges posed by social polarization, digital disinformation and new technologies would continue to challenge democracy in the future.
