Peter Leibinger, the president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), believes that Artificial Intelligence (AI) represents an opportunity to halt the slow process of deindustrialization in Germany. In an interview published by the FAZ podcast, he stated that “industrial AI could become our new growth story.”
Leibinger emphasized that no economy, including Germany’s, can produce high-tech, high-quality products within a network characterized by tight customer retention, international suppliers, and global clients. He argued that this “industrial strength” could be revived in the AI era, allowing value creation to remain domestically. Given that production in the industry has shrunk by 14 percent since 2018, Leibinger stressed that this is urgently necessary, as he sees no sign of deindustrialization slowing down.
Regarding potential job losses due to AI, Leibinger expressed openness to implementing a robot or AI tax. He noted that Germany’s contribution-funded social system relies on having high-paid industrial jobs; if these were replaced by AI and robots, a corresponding tax would be “thought out consistently.” However, he cautioned that introducing such a tax only in Germany could put businesses at a disadvantage in international competition. Ultimately, he said, finding a way to “finance our various insurance benefits differently” would likely be inevitable.
Despite the optimism surrounding AI, Leibinger recognized the risk that the technology could become a geopolitical weapon. Referencing Donald Trump’s actions against the AI company Anthropic, which was prohibited from exporting its latest language model, Leibinger noted, “That is the first manifestation, yes. That it is a highly strategic issue is inquestionable.”
When asked whether it posed a problem that major language models originate from the US and China, the BDI president confirmed, “Yes, there is a problem there.” He also anticipates that AI will become progressively costlier for industrial users. While it is not expected to become a luxury item, he predicted it would become “a significant cost factor,” a trend he observes across all digital services, from office software to cloud computing.
