KATHMANDU, Feb 11: World leaders were set to hold formal talks in Paris on Tuesday on artificial intelligence (AI), seeking elusive common ground on a technology subject to a global race for promised economic benefits. However, it seems that they failed to do so after US vice-President JD Vance and French President Emmauel Macron shared opposing stances on AI regulations.
French President Macron said that there was a "need for rules" to govern artificial intelligence, in an apparent rebuff to US Vice President Vance who had criticised excessive regulation.
"We need these rules for AI to move forward," Macron said at a Paris summit shortly after Vance spoke there. Macron insisted on the "need to continue advancing international governance" of the technology, after Vance blasted European efforts at regulation.
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Vance warned against "excessive regulation" of artificial intelligence at a Paris summit on the technology, warning both European allies and rivals like China against tightening governments' grip.
"Excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative sector just as it's taking off," Vance told global leaders and tech industry chiefs in the opulent surroundings of the French capital's Grand Palais.
He singled out the European Union's Digital Services Act by name for criticism over "massive regulations it created about taking down content and policing so-called misinformation" that he said placed an unfair burden on American tech giants.
Vance also jabbed at China as one of several "authoritarian regimes" he said were looking to use AI for increased control of citizens at home and other countries 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.
He 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.
The summit in Paris on the future of artificial intelligence urged that the fast-moving new technology must be "open", "ethical" and flanked by international governance, but the statement was not signed by Britain or the United States or key industry players.
The 61 signatories, including China, France, Germany and India, agreed it is a priority to ensure "AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy, taking into account international frameworks for all," said the closing statement.
India to host next AI summit.
