You can't build large ML models without swaths of data, and GDPR is the antitheses of collecting data. Therefore countries/companies that don't have to abide by it are at an obvious advantage.

If anything this is coming from political elite being convinced that AI research is a critical topic, EU recognizing it's weak because of the self-imposed handicaps and trying to move past that. I'd be shocked if we manage to do anything concrete on the matter TBH.

The GDPR is about protecting personal data, what personal data could you possibly need to train an AI model?