November 13 — ECB Chief Economist Philip Lane recently said in an interview with the Financial Times that artificial intelligence (AI) financing currently accounts for about a quarter of the growth in eurozone corporate bank loans. Despite rising interest rates and the impact of oil price shocks, credit creation across the 21 eurozone member states has continued to exceed expectations. Lane noted that without financing demand from the AI sector, the annual growth rate of corporate loans would be only 3% rather than the current 4%, even though the AI industry still accounts for a relatively small share of the European economy. He said that about a quarter of credit growth this year has come from the AI sector, yet the industry's share of the economy has not reached that level. Lane reiterated that, compared with debt financing, he would prefer companies to obtain more equity financing to help native AI companies accelerate their development.