The American vice-president, J.D. Vance was invited on Tuesday 11 February to the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, where he gave a highly biased speech extolling the technical superiority of the United States in the artificial intelligence sector and warning the EU and its Member States against any regulation deemed too aggressive against the American technology giants.
Unsurprisingly, the vice-president delivered an offensive plea for the unconstrained development of AI and new technologies to “boost productivity and prosperity” and take advantage of “all the opportunities” they represent.
“Our administration will ensure that American AI remains the gold standard and partner of choice for all those seeking to develop”, he insisted, going on to reiterate his opposition to “ideological biases”, “censorship” and excessive regulation, which “could stop the growth of AI dead in its tracks just as it is taking off”.
“The US wants to partner with all of you, but that requires regulatory regimes that encourage the creation of technology rather than regions that prevent it”, he said in a thinly veiled attack on European legislation, particularly the Digital Services Act (DSA) and theAI Act.
“The Trump administration is troubled by the fact that some foreign governments seem to want to tighten the screws on major US technology companies. America does not and will not accept this”, he hammered home to an audience that included the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
In response, in a speech following that of Mr Vance, Ms. von der Leyen announced a €200 billion investment plan in Europe for AI in order to capitalise on European strengths, declaring that “the AI race is far from over” (see other news). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)