At the Welt AI Summit in Berlin on September 25, 2025, Federal Minister Karsten Wildberger delivered a bold and energetic call to action for Germany’s tech future, positioning himself as the country’s answer to the disruptive tech leadership seen in figures like Elon Musk. Though not a career politician, Wildberger brings a tech executive background to his role as Germany’s first-ever federal minister for digital transformation and government modernization, a position he assumed in May. Minutes after Sam Altman’s departure from the stage, Wildberger took the podium at the Axel Springer headquarters and issued a powerful message: Germany must loosen its regulatory grip to allow innovation to flourish. “We have to start to open up the gates and allow our companies to innovate much, much faster,” he declared. A pragmatist rather than a radical, Wildberger described himself not as someone wielding a chainsaw to cut through bureaucracy, but as a builder with a toolbox. He criticized Europe’s cautious approach to AI regulation, particularly the EU’s 2021 AI Act, which introduced risk-based rules banning practices like social scoring and imposing strict controls on high-risk applications in areas like hiring, policing, and healthcare. While the law aimed to establish Europe as a global leader in ethical AI, Wildberger argued it has had the unintended consequence of stifling startups with compliance burdens, pushing innovation overseas. “You should regulate when you have a market, when you have products,” he warned. “Otherwise, companies develop elsewhere, and the products come to us.” Wildberger challenged Germany’s self-perception as a latecomer in the AI race, highlighting the nation’s dense network of universities, research institutions, and industrial powerhouses as a foundation for success. He acknowledged challenges in funding and scaling, but insisted Germany still has the time and resources to play a major role. Rather than chasing dominance in foundational AI models—a space dominated by U.S. and Chinese firms—he urged focus on building practical applications and services on top of existing models and rapidly deploying them at scale. His speech concluded with a rallying cry for national confidence. “My final hope,” he said, “is that this country that has so much more potential finds a way to talk differently about itself.” He warned that starting each day with a negative mindset leads to a difficult day. “I just hope that as part of the process, we rediscover the faith, the belief in the strength of what this country is capable of.”