Research minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger admitted that the money is small given that the US spend $3.3 billion on AI research last year. However, it seems that the Germans are doing things a lot more ethically than the rest.

Stark-Watzinger said that Europe's emerging regulatory framework, which places greater weight on privacy and personal safety than those in other regions, could attract players to Germany, as could cooperation within the European Union.

"We have AI that is explainable, trustworthy and transparent. That's a competitive advantage." Simpler regulations would promote private research spending, she added.

The AI push comes as Germany attempts to turn around its economy from a recession while the country's key autos and chemicals industries face stiff competition from upstart electric-vehicle makers and high energy costs.

Germany wants to build 150 new university labs for AI research, expanding data centres and making accessible the kind of complex public data sets from which AI techniques can tease out new insights: a major undertaking in a country where cash transactions are common and the fax is not yet extinct.