At Rise of AI 2019 in Berlin, Mario Brandenburg, a member of the German Bundestag, describes moving from the IT world into federal politics and finding himself acting as a translator between people in tech, ordinary citizens, and career politicians who, in his view, do not understand technology. He argues that digital politics differs fundamentally from classical industry politics: a state could once simply refuse to build a bridge or road, but it cannot stop technologies like Airbnb or Uber once people demand them, which makes speed the only currency that matters. He proposes three areas for speeding up Germany's AI adoption: building an ecosystem (English as a second administrative language, keeping the country decentralized), unlocking finance (state capital and pension reserves invested in founders rather than bonds, connecting startups, established firms and wealthy family offices), and political commitment (loosening restrictive data rules and telling a positive, visionary story about technology). He closes urging the mostly non-political audience to get politically active.
Key takeaways
- Brandenburg argues that unlike classical industry politics, digital politics cannot simply block technologies like Airbnb or Uber once people demand them, making speed decisive.
- He proposes English as a second administrative language in Germany to attract skilled workers without years of bureaucratic language requirements.
- He describes three disconnected groups: startups with ideas but no cash, established firms with orders but no clarity, and family offices with idle capital.
- He cites EU data protection rules blocking him from receiving a 23andMe health report as an example of over-applied regulation limiting technology use.
- He notes that not even 1% of people in Germany are politically active and calls on the audience to get involved rather than just complain.
Detailed notes
A translator between the tech world and politics
Brandenburg describes moving from the IT world into federal politics in Berlin and living outside the capital, in Rheinland-Pfalz, which he says puts him between three worlds: ordinary people who do not follow Silicon Valley disruption talk, Berlin tech and political circles, and classical politicians who, in his experience, do not understand technology. He says this gap is not because politicians resist better regulation, but because digital topics are simply not their normal daily business, and he has positioned himself as a translator between these groups.
Why digital politics needs speed
Brandenburg argues that digital politics differs from classical industry politics: in the past, the state could prevent things it did not want, such as a bridge or a road, simply by not building them. It cannot stop technologies like Airbnb or Uber once people demand them, regardless of political preference. He says this makes speed, not traditional political caution, the only currency that matters, and that speed is neither a typical political nor a typical German attribute, which he says explains why some political decisions look slow even to him as a sitting member of parliament.
Three levers: ecosystem, finance and commitment
Brandenburg groups his proposals for speeding up AI adoption into three areas. On ecosystem, he calls for English as a second administrative language so skilled workers do not need years to learn German bureaucracy, and for keeping Germany decentralized rather than concentrating talent in one city like Berlin. On finance, he argues the state holds large capital reserves that could be invested in founders instead of concrete and state bonds, as some other countries already do with pension funds, and describes three disconnected groups in Germany: startups with ideas but no cash, established mid-sized companies ('Mittelstand') with full order books but uncertainty about the future, and wealthy family offices holding capital that does not return much from a bank; he sees a state role in connecting them. On commitment, he argues Germany over-applies data protection as a blocker, citing that EU rules prevent him from receiving a genetic health report from a company like 23andMe even though he consents to using the service, and that a company like 23andMe could not have been founded in Germany under such rules.
A call for political vision and engagement
Brandenburg argues politicians should be more visionary, offering the example of brain uploading as the kind of positive future story politics should be willing to tell, rather than leaving people to adopt an imported American vision of the future or default to a dystopian one. He notes that since joining the Bundestag's AI committee, ordinary conversations, even with his own mother and while picking up his kids, now regularly turn to AI, which he reads as a sign of real public momentum. He closes by noting that not even 1% of people in Germany are politically active, and urges the audience to join a party or movement and articulate their views rather than only voice frustration with political outcomes afterward.
Quotes
The only valid patterns and the only valid currency is speed.
Mario Brandenburg
We have startups with ideas but without cash, we have the middle stand with full order books but they don't know the future, and we still have family offices with lots of money.
Mario Brandenburg
Questions answered in this talk
Why does Mario Brandenburg say digital politics differs from classical industry politics?
According to Mario Brandenburg at Rise of AI 2019, in classical industry politics a state could simply refuse to build something it did not want, like a bridge or road, but it cannot stop technologies such as Airbnb or Uber once people demand them, making speed the deciding factor.
What does Mario Brandenburg propose to speed up AI adoption in Germany?
According to Mario Brandenburg at Rise of AI 2019, he proposes English as a second administrative language, keeping Germany decentralized, directing state and pension capital toward founders instead of bonds, connecting startups, established firms and family offices, and loosening data rules that over-block technology use.
Why couldn't a company like 23andMe be founded in Germany, according to Mario Brandenburg?
According to Mario Brandenburg at Rise of AI 2019, EU data protection rules would prevent a company from legally sending back a personal health report based on genetic data, even to a consenting user, which he says would have blocked a service like 23andMe from starting in Germany.