Judith Dada
Co-CEO & Senior Partner; Moderator
Sessions (2)
Sessions featuring Judith Dada at Bits & Pretzels 2026 | Founders Festival in Munich
Who Owns Europe’s AI Future?
Europe’s AI future, as framed in the opening, depends on whether the region can stop being “a customer of everything” and build enough technical, corporate, and narrative momentum to shape its own outcomes. The video set a deliberately urgent tone: Europe cannot rely on China for equipment, America for compute, and America for military capability while expecting to control its strategic future. It also argued that Europe has ambitious young technical talent and needs stronger stories that give people something to look forward to. The panel was then positioned as a discussion among investors, builders, and storytellers about who owns AI in Europe now and who could own it next. The introductions grounded that question in specific European tech actors. Andreas Klinger was introduced as the former CTO of Product Hunt, founder of PROTOTYPE, and initiator of EU Inc, pushing for a single pan-European company structure. Judith Dada was introduced as German Investor of the Year, a Personio board member, co-CEO of Langdock, and co-author of “Europe 2031,” a scenario about Europe sliding into AI irrelevance. Rana Yared of Balderton was connected to Munich companies including Quantum Systems, while Maex Ament was introduced as a serial European founder now building the AI company Causa Prima. Moderator Mark Bergen opened by asking not who should own Europe’s AI future, but who owns AI in Europe today. Judith answered by separating the “realistic” and “aspirational” answers. Realistically, too much control over compute, chips, and models sits with the US and China. Aspirationally, she argued that the European Union is the world’s second largest economy and is built on transformational companies that have endured for long periods. In her view, Europe’s AI future will be owned by companies that successfully transform their businesses for the new age and carry their value creation forward into European GDP. Maex agreed that Europe has lost ground in frontier models, hardware, and data centers, but saw a large opportunity in the application layer, especially enterprise software and enterprise adoption. Andreas sharply challenged that view, saying the application layer is highly overrated because foundational model companies may generate the next wave of teams in science, medicine, material science, and other industries. Rana reframed the frontier-lab debate: rather than copying generalist US labs such as Anthropic and OpenAI, she argued Europe’s edge may lie in specific foundational models for sectors where Europe already leads, including industrial AI, robotics, healthcare, material science, and chemistry. The supplied transcript ends while the panel is still exploring that distinction between applications, generalist frontier labs, and sector-specific foundational AI.
Dara Khosrowshahi in conversation with Judith Dada
Dara Khosrowshahi’s core message was that Uber’s next chapter is about turning AI-enabled autonomy into safer, more affordable, and more widely available mobility while managing the transition carefully for cities, regulators, partners, and workers. Judith Dada opened the discussion by framing autonomy as a tangible example of AI improving daily life, especially through fewer road fatalities and a better mobility experience. Khosrowshahi agreed, emphasizing that robot drivers do not get distracted or text, are continuously learning, and will ultimately become “multiple times safer” than human drivers. He said Uber already operates autonomous vehicles in its network in eight countries and expects to reach 15 countries by the end of the year, including testing in Munich with Momenta and separately with AutoBrains. The conversation then turned to the risks and pacing of deployment. Khosrowshahi stressed that autonomy is not only a digital product: it will live on city streets, where human behavior is unpredictable and the cost of mistakes is higher. He said Uber wants to introduce autonomous vehicles safely, with proper local training and close work with regulators and the broader autonomous ecosystem. He also addressed labor directly, noting that more than 10 million drivers and couriers work on Uber every month. Because Uber has been growing at more than 20% for four or five years on a run rate of more than $200 billion, he argued the company will still need more drivers for the foreseeable future, even as autonomous vehicles become an increasing part of the network. His longer-term prediction was that streets will be fully autonomous in twenty years. In Munich, Dada asked what the new mobility future means for Germany’s automotive industry. Khosrowshahi said German carmakers must lean into change, pointing to meetings with leaders at Mercedes, Volkswagen, and BMW. He distinguished between utilitarian autonomous mobility and a premium autonomous experience, arguing that Germany’s strength in refined engineering fits the premium segment. He highlighted Uber’s premium product as the fastest-growing in its ecosystem and cited Blacklane, a Berlin company focused on premium transportation, as part of that premium mobility strategy. He said the future is bright for German automakers if they look forward and lean into technical change. Khosrowshahi also identified infrastructure as an underappreciated requirement for scaling autonomy. Human Uber drivers currently own, clean, and charge cars; autonomous fleets require industrialized depots, automated cleaning, charging, and other infrastructure. He said Uber is investing billions in this area and argued that AVs will accelerate fleet electrification because AVs are electric. The final provided section shifted to food delivery and Uber’s planned Delivery Hero investment. Khosrowshahi praised Delivery Hero’s global scope: operations in 50 countries, $40 billion in gross bookings, and almost 50 million monthly consumers. He framed the deal as Uber’s largest investment ever, over €10 billion, and said Uber has also committed another $2 billion in Germany over ten years.