While Silicon Valley continues pushing aggressively into large language models and consumer-facing AI products, many European companies are focused on applying AI to complex systems already embedded into everyday life.

The global AI race is often framed as a battle between the United States and China. But at VivaTech, Europe is expected to make the case for an entirely different model.

Europe’s startup ecosystem has matured significantly; its founders are increasingly willing to scale companies domestically instead of immediately looking to relocate to the U.S.