Paris – On February 10, world leaders and technology executives gathered in Paris to announce new investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and deliberate on safe AI adoption amid increasing resistance to regulatory measures that businesses claim hinder innovation.
The summit marked a shift from previous meetings in Britain and South Korea, where the focus was on AI’s risks following the viral launch of ChatGPT in 2022. U.S. President Donald Trump’s dismantling of prior AI regulations to boost American competitiveness has intensified pressure on the European Union to adopt a more lenient approach to AI regulation, encouraging European firms to stay competitive in the global technology race.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman emphasized the need for minimal regulatory constraints in a French newspaper op-ed, stating, “If we want growth, jobs, and progress, we must allow innovators to innovate, builders to build, and developers to develop.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, hosting the AI Action Summit, echoed this sentiment, advocating for flexibility in the EU’s AI Act to support local start-ups. Macron expressed concerns over both the absence of regulations and excessive rules, urging a balanced approach to innovation.
The diverging strategies on AI regulation between the United States, China, and the European Union were highlighted, with European lawmakers having approved the world’s first comprehensive AI regulatory framework, the AI Act, last year.
The summit saw the launch of Current AI, a partnership involving France, Germany, and industry giants like Google and Salesforce. The initiative aims to invest in public-interest projects, including high-quality data access for AI and open-source tools, with an initial investment of $400 million, targeting up to $2.5 billion over five years.
Additionally, France announced private sector investments amounting to €109 billion during the summit, with companies like Hugging Face doubling their investments in France to enhance their technological capabilities, including robotics.
Discussions at the summit also addressed AI’s energy needs and the ethical stewardship of AI development. Despite the push for lighter regulation, concerns were raised about the potential impact on workers and existing protections. Labor leaders and policy experts warned against weakening the EU’s AI Act under external pressures.
Prominent political figures, including U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance and China’s Vice-Premier Zhang Guoqing, attended the summit, along with top executives like Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, who are set to deliver talks on AI advancements and challenges.
The Paris summit highlighted the global race for AI dominance and the need for balanced regulation to foster innovation while safeguarding societal interests.