The week of IO+: The investment of the year and AI like fire
Our weekly overview offers an overview of the most interesting stories around key innovations every Sunday.
Published on September 14, 2025
Bart, co-founder of Media52 and Professor of Journalism oversees IO+, events, and Laio. A journalist at heart, he keeps writing as many stories as possible.
As we all know, there’s a lot of talk about AI lately. Some of it is pretty hyped-up (“it will be a disaster!” vs. “heaven is just around the corner!”), but IO+ is here to select the pearls from the rubbish. Pearl of the week is the interview Carlo van de Weijer had with the Possible Futures Podcast. Van de Weijer is basically optimistic, but with a realistic perspective. “Technology has always been the main thing that saves our future,” he argues. “Every breakthrough created new problems, but also the tools to solve them.”
Carlo van de Weijer
AI won’t change the basics of human life, Van de Weijer expects. “It won’t rewrite the rhythms of human existence. It just makes them smoother.” Still, he warns against complacency. “AI is like fire. Fire gave us warmth and cooking, but it could also burn down your house. The difference is that AI moves much faster and can continually improve itself. That’s why we need regulation.” Van de Weijer also discusses jobs lost & found, increased productivity, and its impact on education. More here.
ASML
The news leaked on Sunday afternoon and was made official on Wednesday: ASML has acquired more than 10% of the French AI company Mistral for €1.3 billion. Hardware is embracing software; iron into AI. We were on top of it with the first news, the nuances from ASML itself, and an analysis of this rather surprising move. We highly recommend the analysis, in which we present the eight most important arguments to show that this seemingly illogical step is actually very logical. “Strategically brilliant,” even, as we heard from ASML itself.
Officially, the goal of this “strategic partnership” is to explore the use of AI models in ASML's product portfolio and in research, development, and operations. Simply put, it will enhance ASML's large machines, making them better and more reliable, as well as the research that will lead to the successors of these mega-devices. But that's not all, because... well, read for yourself :-)
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Watt Matters in AI
We are approaching November 26, the day we will be holding our Watt Matters in AI conference. Everything about the exorbitant energy consumption of AI systems, but above all: what solutions are there to prevent this from getting completely out of hand? We have now secured seven very interesting speakers: a guarantee that by the end of the day you will be completely up to speed on this topic. Tickets are available via Watt Matters in AI.
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We'll keep saying it: every morning at 6:30 a.m. (on weekdays), a new podcast is waiting for you. In it, our AI colleagues Oliver and Shelby discuss the two most interesting topics of the day. This makes the IO+ Daily the ideal way to fill your head with some optimistic news from the world of innovation and technology.
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A selection of other highlights from this week:
- Dutch cabinet invests half a billion in technology
- AI makes our lives easier, but it is more dangerous than fire
- Digital technology improves treatment of Parkinson's patients
- Hydrogen in the Netherlands: ‘Promising projects on both a small and large scale’
- Collaboration and flexibility are key to innovation in construction
- ‘Startups needed to explore the uncharted territory of AI’
- Eindhoven to get factory for millions of battery components
- Women in European tech: share growing steadily but significantly
- TechMed Twente turns sperm cells into trackable microrobots
- Dutch and Ukrainian defense forces form a partnership
- What Brainport founders need—and how they plan to get it
Enjoy your Sunday and don't forget that a new episode of IO+ Daily will be waiting for you tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m.