In Paris, world leaders try to set the tone for AI, but is the U.S. on board?

Whatever you can dream, a robot can do — at least, that’s the hope and fear underlying the Paris AI Action Summit, which was underway Monday and continued Tuesday.

This summit, co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the third major international meeting centered on artificial intelligence, according to France24.

Early on the summit’s second day, Vice President JD Vance released the Trump administration’s vision for AI — and in doing so made waves with European officials and tech leaders.

He refused to sign onto the final summit statement, according to Reuters, and deemed content moderation “authoritarian censorship.” In his remarks he also said regulations on artificial intelligence would choke innovation.

Issues at stake

The Paris AI Action Summit targeted five specific themes, according to Forbes:

• Public interest: Artificial intelligence can improve medical, energy and education services — but if not regulated, it can concentrate power in small private actors like CEOs and think tanks.
• Work: Experts estimate that AI will affect nearly 40% of jobs worldwide. While it can augment highly-skilled workers' effectivity and could even “level the playing field,” it could also propel dramatic layoffs in lower-skill positions.
• Global competition: Some term the international state of AI as an “arms race.” DeepSeek, OpenAI and Google compete to improve their models while the U.S., Europe and Asia debate how much money to funnel into the industry.
• Ethics: Some governments have focused on safety related to AI, including dangers with data manipulation. Others believe that regulations could quash innovation.
• International standards: AI lacks international governance. While the European Union has set forth several regulations, broader rules do not exist.

Vance outlines America’s vision for AI

Vance’s remarks at the summit showed the Trump administration’s approach to AI, including limiting regulation.

“We feel very strongly that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship,” Vance told gathered leaders in Paris.

Vance characterized some of the leaders’ approaches to AI as likely to “kill a transformative industry.” He cited the European Union’s Digital Services Act and online privacy laws, which, he said, could block people from accessing opinions with which their governments disagree, according to a readout of the speech provided by the White House.

“We want people to be able to speak their minds, and we believe that free and open debate is actually a good thing. Unfortunately, a lot of our European friends have gone the wrong direction there,” he said.

Vance met with European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen, and Macron, discussing AI and Ukraine- and Middle East-focused policies.

Global leaders favor of AI

A couple of AI critics have so far appeared at the summit — including AI “doomer” Geoffrey Hinton, per Politico — but mostly, the audience is thick with supporters. Sam Altman of OpenAI and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were both in attendance. So were executives from Stargate, Mozilla, DeepSeek, DeepMind and more, according to The Associated Press.

Elected officials are getting in on the game too. In particular, national leaders are looking to play catch-up with the U.S. and China.

Macron discussed his intention to invest 109 billion euros in technology and AI-related innovation, including facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri talked about improving access to AI in less-advanced regions, saying he wants to avoid “perpetuating a digital divide that is already existing across the world,” according to the AP.