If the objective is for applied research (research for the benefit of the economy), I disagree. My main argument is that we need domain experts outside of academia.

Moreover, theoretical research in AI is very open and countries with limited resources are better off stand on the shoulders of giants than try and be number 1 themselves. Finland might never beat Russia/China/US AI arms race but they just need to defend themselves should any of these 3 countries monopolize or weaponize on AI.