Inside the nave of the Grand Palais in Paris, on February 10 and 11, France hosted the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit, bringing together global leaders and representatives from over 100 countries, as well as scientists, researchers and tech industry executives. In this two-day summit co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, discussions centred around 5 themes: building AI for public interest, the effects of AI on work and productivity, building an innovative sustainable AI hand-in-hand with cultural and creative industries, ensuring trustworthy development of AI systems, and shaping an efficient and inclusive framework for the global governance of AI.
The sentiment shared by many is that there is a need to build a more ethical AI domain. In light of this, the subject of “open-source AI” was at the heart of conversations. According to the MIT Tech Review, an open-source AI system is, as the name implies, open to everyone: it can be used for any purpose without special permission or payment. This means that researchers can freely inspect the system’s components and functioning.
Seeing these benefits, Macron announced the launch of Current AI, a foundation aiming to raise $2.5 billion to reshape the landscape of AI. It aims to expand data-set access, develop open-source tools, and make AI more transparent overall, including in measuring its environmental impacts. Along the same lines, tech industry leaders also gathered at the summit and launched Robust Open Online Safety Tools, or ROOST, to develop and provide free open-source safety tools.
While open-source AI was developed to enhance transparency in the domain of artificial intelligence, it also has a negative side: the “open-source” aspect means anyone may use the system “for any purpose,” without any control whatsoever regarding the intentions of the developer. David Evan Harris, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, warns about the dangers of such tools that can create “dangerous information, like a bomb recipe,” deepfakes, and violent pornographic content. Additionally, expanded access to AI tools may deeply weigh on the environment, as the energy consumption of AI is already high.
But if so many countries seek to invest in an AI model that seems to relinquish economic profit, there must be some underlying motives behind this. Open-source AI is viewed as an opportunity to share benefits and stimulate innovation, but also as a way for some countries to “catch up” on AI development. Indeed, fostering investment in AI is “one of the most pressing projects” France wishes to undertake, not so much for the sake of promoting an ethical AI industry but rather to further its own national interests and influence.
What the summit in Paris really showed was that a global race for AI dominance is already well underway, and national interests were at the core of the debates surrounding the development of AI.
In the early weeks of his presidency, the Trump administration broke the 2023 consensus about AI development by massively investing. Trump promised to dedicate $500 billion to the industry, placing the US in a leading position in terms of AI development and research. To add to this, the US refused to sign a regulation declaration to “ensure AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure, and trustworthy.” J.D. Vance, Vice President of the US, declared that excessive regulations could “kill a transformative industry.”
However, this American aggression over AI regulation does not come out of nowhere: the tech rivalry with China has led to a real AI race, with both countries competing to develop the most advanced model. China is successfully expanding its AI industry through the development of state-backed tech giants, and the worldwide success of DeepSeek, one of the AI systems that democratized open-source tools, only confirms their advancement.
As the US and China race for dominance over the AI industry, Europe seeks to enhance its AI capabilities. Thus, during the summit, $150 billion was allocated to “AI Champions” by 20 European corporations, led by General Catalyst, to boost the European AI industry over the next five years. Seizing the opportunity of the summit, Mistral AI, a French start-up, and Helsing, a European defence corporation, announced their partnership to build a European AI defence. Gundbert Scherf, co-founder of Helsing, claimed that “Europe needs to assert its strength as a geopolitical actor, and AI leadership is the key to that strength.” To attract further investment, Henna Virkkunen, the EU digital chief, promised to simplify regulations and make an AI-business-friendly Europe, a sentiment echoed by Macron in his speech.
This “three-way race” for the dominance of the AI industry between the US, China, and Europe does not foreshadow anything good for the average AI user. Driven by economic and national interests, governments seem little inclined to regulate AI systems. Instead, they are preferring to maximize its development through massive investment and minimal regulation – as seen in the US and UK’s refusal to sign the AI regulation declaration of the summit. These developments in the world of AI policy will lead to more intense competition among nations alongside increased technological advancement.