On Monday, 10 February 2025, over 1000 delegates from more than 100 countries descended on Paris, France, for a two-day Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit at the Grand Palais. Those in attendance included Heads of State and Government, leaders of international organisations, CEOs of small and large companies, representatives of academia, non-governmental organisations, artists, and members of civil society.
What began at the Global AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in November 2023 has since evolved into a conference on AI innovation and investment if the speeches by French President Emmanuel Macron, US Vice President JD Vance, India's Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the UK's Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle are anything to go by. President von der Leyen used her speech to announce €200 billion of investment in AI technologies and gigafactories.
While over 60 countries, including France, China, India, Japan, Australia, and Canada, signed a declaration on "inclusive and sustainable" AI, it was somewhat telling that both the UK and the US chose not to. The declaration, which stated: "ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy, taking into account international frameworks for all," was not deemed not to have gone far enough in addressing global governance of AI and the technology's impact on national security, according to a UK government spokesperson. The UK did sign agreements on sustainability and cybersecurity, the spokesperson noted.
Meanwhile, a speech by US vice-president JD Vance criticised Europe's tech regulations and cautioned against collaboration with China. Vance said: "We need international regulatory regimes that foster the creation of AI technology rather than strangle it, and we need our European friends, in particular, to look to this new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation."
Vance also went on to criticise the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Digital Services Act (DSA), saying that it is "one thing to prevent a predator from preying on a child on the internet. And it is something quite different to prevent a grown man or woman from accessing an opinion that the government thinks is misinformation." Vance left the event soon after his speech, before the leaders' group photo.
Reuters posted a video on YouTube of the Second day of the summit, focusing on political discussions between leaders, starting with the speech from US VP JD Vance.
UK government sources denied following the US lead, despite a Labour MP suggesting we have "little strategic room but to be downstream of the US," highlighting the influence of US AI companies and their potential impact on UK initiatives like the AI Safety Institute.
In related news, as the gap between AI safety and innovation widens, the IAPP reports on how the ongoing debate is taking shape in the US after President Trump rescinded the Biden administration's AI executive order, which he claimed is a barrier to American AI innovation.
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