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The third AI Action Summit has wrapped up in Paris, France. The global summit was initially conceived as a way to get world leaders together to talk about AI safety following the rise of tools like ChatGPT. But it's becoming less and less about safety. As NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram reports, U.S. Vice President JD Vance was there this week to discuss the Trump administration's stance on the technology.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: From the start of his speech in Paris, Vice President Vance was clear on what he wasn't going to talk about.
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VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: I'm not here this morning to talk about AI safety, which was the title of the conference a couple of years ago. I'm here to talk about AI opportunity.
SHIVARAM: Vance's remarks come as President Trump has been criticizing the more careful and wary approach the Biden administration took on artificial intelligence. Vance echoed that in his speech. But instead of attacking Biden, he warned countries against collaborating with U.S. adversaries. And he attacked Europe's policies on regulating technology, like ones that limit hate speech and disinformation. Vance said the rules make it a burden for U.S. companies to work in Europe.
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VANCE: We need international regulatory regimes that fosters the creation of AI technology rather than strangles it. And we need our European friends, in particular, to look to this new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation.
SHIVARAM: Vance's speech was followed by action. The U.S., along with the United Kingdom, refused to sign on to the summit's declaration for inclusive and sustainable AI practices. But countries like France, India, China, Canada and dozens others did sign on. A White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it would be, quote, "inappropriate" for the U.S. to sign on to the agreement before Trump's own AI action plan is developed. But there are risks to the U.S.' isolation on AI policies, says Ifeoma Ajunwa, a professor at the Emory School of Law.
IFEOMA AJUNWA: I don't think the U.S. should stand alone. I think the U.S. is risking being left out of all the benefits of collaboration and cooperation.
SHIVARAM: She says not being involved and committed to AI development with global partners could mean that the U.S. gets left behind. There's also a risk that China could fill the gap if the U.S. exits the global conversation on AI safety, says Gregory Allen. He runs AI at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
GREGORY ALLEN: While there is some reason to be concerned about the risk of overregulation, completely throwing out the baby with the bathwater on AI safety and security issues could be an opportunity for China to show more leadership on this area.
SHIVARAM: And that should be a concern, says Allen, because China's growth on AI is fast-moving. The latest release of their generative AI model, DeepSeek, shows that U.S. leadership on AI isn't guaranteed. But for the Trump administration, the answer to keeping an edge on AI development is the less focus on safety and regulation, the better.
Deepa Shivaram, NPR News, Washington.
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