The next chapter for AI in the EU

OpenAI has rolled out the second version of its EU Economic Blueprint, a document that reads less like a product announcement and more like a lobbying-adjacent policy paper dressed up with data. The pitch is simple: Europe is lagging on AI adoption compared to the US and China, and OpenAI wants to be the company that fixes that, one partnership at a time.

The blueprint leans heavily on new figures about how businesses and workers across the continent are (or aren't) using AI tools day to day. It's the kind of report that exists to justify a bigger ask — more government contracts, more enterprise deals, more classroom pilots. OpenAI frames this as helping Europe catch up on skills and productivity, but it's also, transparently, a market-expansion document with Sam Altman's fingerprints on the framing even if his name isn't on every page.

What's notable is the shift from the first blueprint to this one. Version one was mostly aspirational — broad claims about AI's potential upside for GDP and jobs. Version 2.0 comes with named partnerships and initiatives, suggesting OpenAI has spent the last stretch signing deals rather than just publishing white papers. That's a meaningful change in posture: less