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THE UNITED STATES and the United Kingdom have refused to sign a global declaration on artificial intelligence at France’s global action summit on the emerging technology.
The declaration urged that the fast-moving new technology must be “open”, “ethical” and flanked by international governance.
Ireland is among 61 signatories, who also include China, France, Germany and India, who also agreed it is a priority to ensure “AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy, taking into account international frameworks for all.”
A UK government spokesperson cited “national interest” for Britain not signing the final statement.
It comes as US vice president JD Vance advocated for light touch regulation of AI, arguing that “excessive” regulation could “kill” the rapidly developing sector just as it is taking off.
He made the remarks during a speech this morning at the summit.
World leaders and tech heavyweights were in Paris for the second day of the summit, which aims to highlight the benefits of AI and find a common ground on the rapidly developing technology.
The Summit has been described as a first of its kind gathering, with some likening it to an AI version of Climate COPs.
The European Union, United States, China and India each have different priorities in tech development and AI regulation, and this has been visible at the conference.
France had hoped that governments would agree on voluntary commitments to make AI sustainable and environmentally friendly, but this hope was dashed by the US and UK decision not to sign the final statement.
Speaking this morning, Vance singled out the European Union’s Digital Services Act by name for criticism over “massive regulations it created about taking down content and policing so-called misinformation” that he said placed an unfair burden on American tech giants.
The US Vice President also took a swipe at China as one of several “authoritarian regimes” he said were looking to use AI for increased control of citizens at home and other countries abroad.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin was also in Paris for the conference.
Speaking to reporters this morning, the Taoiseach said the key takeaway from the conference is the “profound” implications the technology will have on people’s lives.
Asked about the rush to deregulate the emerging industry, the Taoiseach said it is fair to say there is a “rebalancing” of the approach to AI now taking place in Europe.
“That said, there were very strong voices last evening about the importance of protecting children and young people, for example, mental health, protecting democracy, hate speech and so on,” he said.
Last night, world leaders gathered for a working dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.
In a speech at the summit yesterday, Macron went toe-to-toe with the US, pledging €109bn for investment in French AI over the next five years in a bid to keep Europe in the running for the tech’s hoped-for benefits.
Macron said this was the equivalent investment for France that ChatGPT maker OpenAI has committed to investing in the US with its €500bn Stargate Project.
Announced at the end of January, the Stargate Project aims to “re-industrialise” the United States and represents a huge investment in the technology.
Macron highlighted France’s decades-old fleet of nuclear plants as a key advantage compared to the US, providing clean, scalable energy supply for AI’s vast processing needs.
“I have a good friend in the other part of the ocean saying ‘drill, baby, drill’,” Macron said in an apparent dig at US President Donald Trump’s pro-fossil fuels policy.
“Here there is no need to drill, it’s plug, baby, plug!” he added.
Also speaking last night, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said technology’s shift to AI is set to be “the biggest of our lifetimes”.
Today, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a push to channel €200bn in public and private investments into Europe’s AI industry.
This morning, the Taoiseach joined political leaders from around 100 countries for a plenary session hosted in Paris’s 125-year-old Grand Palais. Notable attendees including Von Der Leyen, Vance, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will host next year’s summit in India.
For Vance it was his first official overseas trip since entering office last month and all eyes were on how he engaged with European leaders, some he was meeting for the first time.
Vance arrived in the French capital yesterday alongside his wife Usha and their three children.
He was scheduled to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last night.
The Taoiseach briefly met Vance for the first time at last night’s working dinner, telling reporters he “spoke very fondly” of Ireland.
It’s understood senior tech figures including Google’s Pichai, Microsoft’s Bard Smith and OpenAI’s Sam Altman also attended the dinner.
In a statement ahead of the summit, the Taoiseach said his priority was focusing on getting the balance right on regulation of the technology “so that innovation can flourish while protecting against harmful developments.”
At the end of last month, the arrival of China’s DeepSeek AI model caused a splash in the tech sector globally, with the free app becoming the most downloaded on Apple’s US App Store, displacing OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Its launch posed difficult questions for the US tech sector, and has sparked concerns that safety and regulation may suffer as the global AI race enters a new phase.
The summit in Paris has also received criticism for focusing too much on the possible benefits of AI without giving due space to its potential dangers.
Max Tegmark, head of the US-based Future of Life Institute that has warned of AI’s “existential risk”, criticised a leaked draft of the summit’s final communique over its failure to mention these risks.
Tegmark also criticised it for failing to provide any “concrete proposals to ensure these powerful systems remain controllable and beneficial”.
“This alarming omission demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the science, and is a recipe for disaster,” he said.
With reporting from AFP.
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