Geopolitics, Trump’s designs overshadow Paris AI summit to be cohosted by Modi

The geopolitics of artificial intelligence will be in focus at a major summit in France where world leaders, executives and experts will hammer out pledges on guiding the development of the rapidly advancing technology.

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It’s the latest in a series of global dialogues around AI governance, but one that comes at a fresh inflection point as China’s buzzy and budget-friendly DeepSeek chatbot shakes up the industry.

US Vice-President JD Vance — making his first trip abroad since taking office — will attend the Paris AI Action Summit starting February 10, while China’s President Xi Jinping will be sending his special envoy, signalling high stakes for the meeting.

Heads of state and top government officials, tech bosses and researchers are gathering in Paris for the two-day summit cohosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The event aims to address how to harness artificial intelligence’s potential so that it benefits everyone, while containing the technology’s myriad risks.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is attending, along with officials and CEOs from 80 countries, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft President Brad Smith and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who attended the inaugural 2023 summit at former codebreaking base Bletchley Park in England, and DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng have been invited, but it’s unclear if either will attend.

More than two years after ChatGPT’s debut, generative AI continues to make astounding advances at breakneck speed. The technology that powers all-purpose chatbots is transforming many aspects of life with its ability to spit out high-quality text, images or video, or carry out complex tasks.

The 2023 summit in the UK resulted in a non-binding pledge by 28 nations to tackle AI risks. A follow-up meeting hosted by South Korea last year secured another pledge to set up a network of public AI safety institutes to advance research and testing.

AI safety is still on the agenda in Paris, with an expert group reporting back on general purpose AI’s possible extreme dangers.

But this time organisers are expanding the discussion to more countries, and widening the debate to a range of other AI-related topics. Like previous editions, this summit won’t produce any binding regulation.

“The summit comes at a time when many are trying to position themselves in the international competition,” Macron told reporters, according to La Provence newspaper. “It’s about establishing the rules of the game. AI cannot be the Wild West.”

Organisers are working on getting countries to sign a joint political declaration gathering commitments for more ethical, democratic and environmentally sustainable AI, according to Macron’s office. But it’s unclear whether the US would agree to such a measure.

Another big goal is securing an agreement for a public-interest partnership for AI. Paris seeks to raise 2.5 billion euros (USD 2.6 billion) for the public-private partnership.