Paris AI summit shows rift between regulation and innovation
The AI Action Summit in Paris will see world leaders embrace the technology,
desperate to make their own countries the frontrunners in a global race to
artificial intelligence.
Science and technology editor @t0mclark3 [http://twitter.com/@t0mclark3]
Monday 10 February 2025 11:53, UK
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 [https://news.sky.com/topic/paris-6050].
But in the age of artificial intelligence
[https://news.sky.com/topic/artificial-intelligence-7032], 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”
[https://news.sky.com/story/what-is-deepseek-the-low-cost-chinese-ai-firm-that-has-turned-the-tech-world-upside-down-13298039]
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.
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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.
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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.
