The Paris summit, which will be attended by companies such as Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, aims to reach a consensus on guiding the development of artificial intelligence.
Global leaders, technology industry executives and scientists are meeting in Paris for a two-day summit to discuss artificial intelligence’s impact on global security, economics and governance.
The summit, which is being co-hosted by French Presiden Emmanuel Macron and and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, takes place as tech giants vie for supremacy in the rapidly evolving sector and while China’s release of DeepSeek last month showed the country’s ability to rival major Western players like ChatGPT.
Heads of state, top government officials, CEOs, and scientists from around 100 countries are participating in the summit, which that started on Monday.
Prominent attendees include European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US Vice President JD Vance.
Vance, who is on his first overseas trip since taking office, arrived along with his wife and three children and was greeted in France on Monday morning by Manuel Valls, the minister for Overseas France, and the US Embassy’s charge d’affaires, David McCawley.
The summit is expected to give some European leaders a chance to meet Vance for the first time. Earlier, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing was welcomed at the Elysee Palace.
Macron set the tone for the summit on Sunday in an interview on national television France 2. “We’re living in a technology and scientific revolution we’ve rarely seen.”
France and Europe must seize the opportunity, he said, because AI “will enable us to live better, learn better, and care better, and it’s up to us to put this artificial intelligence at the service of human beings.”
The Paris summit, whose attendeed include big names like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, aims to speed up AI progress in areas like culture, health, and the environment.
The event will be used as the platform to launch a “public interest” partnership called “Current AI” with an initial €387 ($400) million investment. The initiative aims to raise $2.5 billion over the next five years and will involve governments, businesses and philanthropic groups that will provide open-source access to databases, software and other tools for “trusted” AI actors, according to Macron’s office.
Europe vies for space in AI supremacy
As tech titans fight for dominance in the fast-moving technology industry, France’s summit organisers also want big investment decisions to come from Europe.
They want to make the region a serious competitor in an industry that is becoming increasingly shaped by the growing competition between the US and China.
“Europe is going to accelerate; France is going to accelerate – and so for us, France, we’re announcing tomorrow at this summit €109 billion of investment in artificial intelligence over the next few years,” Macron said on Sunday.
The French leader explained that AI will take over the heaviest, most repetitive tasks in healthcare systems and support professions, freeing up caregivers to supervise robots and be present in a human way. This shift will create space to improve the quality of care, he added.
Meanwhile, in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun expressed opposition on Monday to any moves to restrict access to AI tools, especially after the release of DeepSeek prompted calls in the US Congress to limit its use for security reasons.
“We oppose drawing ideological lines and oppose overstretching national security concepts and politicizing economic and trade issues,” Guo said.
He claimed that China advocates for open-source AI technology and promotes the accessibility of AI services to share the benefits of artificial intelligence with all countries.
For his part, US President Donald Trump has emphasised his desire to make the US the “world capital of artificial intelligence” by tapping its oil and gas reserves to feed the energy-hungry technology.
The rise of DeepSeek has been seen by tech analysts and observers as a change in the AI ecosystem, especially in light of the US-China competition.
Additional sources • AP
