PARIS: US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday (Feb 11) warned European allies against over-regulating the US-dominated artificial intelligence sector and China against using the technology to tighten its grip on power.
The remarks by Donald Trump’s deputy to world leaders gathered in Paris to discuss AI did not put dozens of nations off signing a statement calling for efforts to flank the technology with regulation to make it “open” and “ethical”.
“Excessive regulation … could kill a transformative sector just as it’s taking off,” Vance told global leaders and tech industry chiefs at the French capital’s Grand Palais, calling on Europe to show “optimism rather than trepidation”.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had minutes earlier called for “collective, global efforts to establish governance and standards that uphold our shared values, address risks and build trust”.
Future AI would need to be “free from biases” and “address concerns related to cybersecurity, disinformation and deepfakes” to benefit all, he added.
Modi co-hosted the summit with France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his country will host the next meeting on advancing global rules.
Speaking after Vance, Macron said global rules were “the foundation, alongside innovation and acceleration, of what will allow AI to arrive and endure”, in an apparent rebuff to the US vice president.
China, France, Germany and India were among 61 signatories who agreed it is a priority that “AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy” under “international frameworks”.
AI should also be “sustainable for people and the planet,” the text added.
The United States and Britain, two leading nations for AI development, signed.
“AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES”
The US vice president took a thinly veiled shot at China, saying “authoritarian regimes” were looking to use AI for increased control of citizens at home and abroad.
“Partnering with them means chaining your nation to an authoritarian master that seeks to infiltrate, dig in and seize your information infrastructure,” Vance said.
Chinese startup DeepSeek rattled the AI sector last month by unveiling a sophisticated chatbot that it says was developed on a relatively low budget. A growing number of countries have taken steps to block the app from government devices over security concerns.
Vance also pointed to “cheap tech … heavily subsidised and exported by authoritarian regimes”, referring to surveillance cameras and 5G mobile internet equipment widely sold abroad by China.
