Paris AI summit shows rift between regulation and innovation

The AI Action Summit is arguably a coming together of the most powerful people in the world.

Sure, political representatives from all our major economies are convening here in Paris.

But in the age of artificial intelligence, it’s the big tech companies who own the powerful AI models, as well as the hardware and expertise to design and build them, that also wield true power.

In late 2023, the UK government convened the first international AI summit at Bletchley Park near London.

Its focus was supposedly on AI safety and how governments could ensure their citizens’ jobs, or even lives, weren’t threatened by the rapid rise of superintelligent AI that tech bosses assured them was just around the corner.

But the undercurrent was very much political leaders trying to figure out how to capitalise on the advantages AI will undoubtedly bring.

Things are different now.

Donald Trump has vowed to make the US the world’s AI superpower.

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, however, a Chinese company, DeepSeek, proved that it could rival American “big tech” despite strict controls on leading AI hardware.

It’s no accident that China, which remained on the sidelines of previous summits, has sent vice premier Zhang Guoqing – seen as President Xi Jinping’s right-hand man.

JD Vance is also making his first overseas trip as US vice president in order to attend the summit.

French President Emmanuel Macron is keen to steer the conversation away from the risks of a race towards computer superintelligence and towards how AI tools can be used for things societies need, such as curing disease and improving public services.

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The big tech firms want to talk about that too, and how Mr Trump’s plans for the lightest-touch regulation are the only way to ensure the AI innovation that governments want.

Mr Macron wants leaders to commit to a political declaration around ethical, democratic and environmental principles when it comes to AI. But a leaked draft of the text makes little mention of safety.

That is at odds with the EU’s tougher regulatory stance on AI – and the views of many AI experts on the sidelines of this summit.

They continue to warn of the dangers of a big tech oligopoly on AI.

They also warn of the risks of their role, deliberate or not, in a geopolitical race for AI supremacy that leaders like Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are likely to pursue.