The most important AI Summit up to date was held in Paris – resulting with divergence amongst international players

The 2025 Paris AI Action Summit, held on February 10-11 at the Grand Palais, gathered over 1,000 participants from more than 100 countries, including government leaders, tech executives, researchers, and civil society representatives, to discuss the future of artificial intelligence (AI). Thanks to the Summit, we could watch the below described speeches form the representatives of the US and EU, which forecast the near future in the field of AI, and also some common statements were signed by – well, some of the – participants.

Keynote speeches from world leaders

United States

During the Summit, leading politicians gave keynote speeches.  I would like to highlight the speech of U.S. Vice President JD Vance which signalled the US’s shift regarding AI regulation.  He outlined four key policy priorities:

1. Maintaining the US’s Global Leadership in AI: Vance asserted the administration’s intent to ensure that American AI technology remains the global benchmark, positioning the U.S. as the preferred partner for international AI collaborations.
2. Advocating for Deregulation: He cautioned that excessive regulation could stifle the burgeoning AI industry, advocating for policies that encourage growth and innovation.
3. Ensuring Ideological Neutrality: Vance emphasized the importance of keeping AI systems free from ideological biases, and rejecting their use as tools for authoritarian censorship.
4. Promoting Worker-Centric AI Development: He highlighted the administration’s goal to utilize AI as a means for job creation, enhancing productivity, and improving wages and benefits for American workers.

Vance also expressed concerns over international regulatory approaches, particularly within Europe, suggesting that stringent regulations could hinder AI’s transformative potential. He underscored the need for international cooperation that fosters innovation rather than imposes restrictive measures.  Additionally, he warned against the misuse of AI by authoritarian regimes, emphasizing the administration’s commitment to preventing the exploitation of AI technologies for surveillance or propaganda by hostile actors.

European Union and France

On the other hand, there was a huge development on the European Union’s side as well: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a comprehensive strategy to bolster the European Union’s position in artificial intelligence (AI). Central to this initiative is the mobilization of €200 billion for AI investments across Europe, comprising €50 billion in EU public funds and €150 billion from private sector commitments. A significant portion of the public investment, €20 billion, is earmarked for the construction of four AI “gigafactories” within the EU. These facilities will be equipped with approximately 100,000 state-of-the-art AI chips each, quadrupling the capacity of existing AI infrastructures. Their primary function will be to train complex, large-scale AI models, thereby enhancing Europe’s capabilities in this critical sector. Von der Leyen highlighted the importance of fostering innovation while ensuring AI systems are ethical, safe, and trustworthy. To this end, the EU aims to simplify regulations and reduce administrative burdens, creating a more conducive environment for AI advancement – while maintaining high ethical standards in AI deployment.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced investment pledges totaling €109 billion to advance France’s AI sector. Significant contributions include €20 billion from Canadian firm Brookfield and up to €50 billion from the United Arab Emirates. Major tech companies also committed substantial investments, with Amazon allocating over €1.2 billion for cloud infrastructure and Digital Realty committing €6 billion for data centers in Paris and Marseille. The intersection between these investments and those that were announced by Ursula von der Leyen is yet to be cleared.

The common goals in which the world leaders agreed – or not…..

Inclusive and Sustainable AI

The most significant outcome was the “Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence for People and the Planet,” endorsed by 61 nations and regional blocs, including China, India, the European Union, and the African Union. This declaration emphasized the goals:

• promoting AI accessibility to reduce digital divides;
• ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy,
• fostering innovation while preventing market concentration,
• protecting labour markets and focusing on sustainable growth,
• making AI sustainable for people and the planet
• reinforcing international cooperation and coordination.

The actions on which the endorsing countries agreed:

• some of the endorsers have launched a major Public Interest AI Platform and Incubator, which will provide support and technical assistance building projects in data, model development, transparency, audit, compute, financing. The goal is to create a trustworthy AI ecosystem.
• the endorsing countries should cooperate on founding a network of observatories to better anticipate AI implications for job market, and develop skills of workers,
• to initiate a Global Dialogue on AI governance to align on-going governance efforts, with respect of human rights, gender equality, linguistic diversity, protection of consumers and of intellectual property rights.
• they will keep addressing risks on AI transparency and safety.

Notably, the United States and the United Kingdom declined to sign the declaration. The UK cited insufficient clarity on global AI governance and national security concerns, while the US expressed reservations about the declaration’s emphasis on multilateralism and inclusivity.

Environment Protection

The above mentioned common statement was not by far the only document issued by the participants. The summit led to the launch of the Coalition for Environmentally Sustainable Artificial Intelligence. This global partnership, comprising 91 members—including 37 tech companies, 12 countries, and key international organizations like the UN Development Programme and the International Energy Agency—aims to align AI development with environmental sustainability goals.  The Coalition started to work, but several studies and hackhatons were already held in preparation for the Summit.

While the Coalition’s goal is welcome and this new community is promising, it would be better to see some other large AI developer companies and more countries with determining power amongst the endorsers.

AI enabled weapon systems

The Summit still issued a number of other statements, however, there is a reason why the other documents are less published in the media….  It is worth mentioning the Paris Declaration on Maintaining Human Control in AI enabled Weapon Systems. In this short declaration, the endorsing countries stated,

• they commit to use AI capabilities in the military domain in a responsible manner, in accordance with international law, in particular international humanitarian law,
• they are going to ensure that humans remain responsible and accountable for the deployment and development of AI applications in the military domain, and they will implement appropriate safeguards relating to human control over the use of force.
• they will not authorise the decision of life and death to be made by an autonomous weapon system operating completely outside human control.

However, it is very much worrying that this – probably even more important – declaration was endorsed by far less countries, only 27, and the countries with largest military power remained outside of the declaration.

AI in the Public Interest

Another less published document is the Paris Charter on Artificial Intelligence in the Public Interest. The endorsing countries agreed on the following principles:

• supporting the development of open models, spanning both standard setting, tooling and best practices – in contrast to today’s situation, where only a few actor decide to open their foundational models
• accountability across every step of AI development, and deployment is a cornerstone in achieving AI for the public interest. Accountability relies on the enforcement of existing national and international frameworks,
• ensuring society’s participation and transparency

The endorsing countries decided to identify their contributions and aligning on shared objectives in select areas of collaboration by 30 June 2025.

Regretfully, the Charter was endorsed by only 10 countries…. including France, Germany, India, but all the other larger countries missing from the list of endorsers.

Summary:

In summary, the 2025 Paris AI Action Summit signified a pivotal moment in global AI discourse, shifting focus toward adoption, innovation, and inclusivity. While consensus on governance, safety and environmental approaches and military usage remains a challenge, the commitments made reflect a collective ambition to harness AI’s potential responsibly and sustainably. However, the near future seems to miss a common international direction, and we might forecast a focus on increasing international competition over international cooperation.

List of references