European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday she plans to invite major AI companies for discussions on supporting industry efforts to pace the most cutting-edge technologies.

"We want to make the most of AI to improve our society, our quality of life and our productivity," von der Leyen said in an annual address. "At the same time, the dangers of self-improving models are becoming ever more apparent."

AI models currently under development can enable hacking on a level "we never thought [would be] possible," she said. "And they will soon be in the hands of adversaries who see the world very differently from us."

Von der Leyen said that chief executives of "the most advanced companies tell us that it is time to slow down on the self-recursive models" and that she backs the notion.

The EU will team up with "like-minded" countries such as the UK and Canada "on model evaluation, verification, early warning, (and) AI security," she said.