60 Nations Unite for AI Pact—Why the US and UK Are Holding Back?

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China wants to expand its access through state-backed tech companies, and the US wants a hands-off approach.

The United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) have rejected an Artificial Intelligence Action Summit declaration that calls for regulations guaranteeing AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, and trustworthy.

The summit in Paris has representatives from over 100 countries to discuss achieving an agreement on the development of artificial intelligence (AI).

Google CEO Sundar Pichai claimed that artificial intelligence will profoundly shift lives and that we are just in the beginning.

The gathering exposed differences in countries’ agendas in artificial intelligence.

Europe wants to regulate and invest, China wants to expand its access through state-backed tech companies, and the United States wants a hands-off approach.

Some leaders wanted diverse and inclusive AI environments that are human-based, ethical, safe, and trustworthy. Others claimed that overregulation will prevent innovation and development in technology.

The summit also emphasized that they need to support developing countries in AI development so that everyone benefits from it.

French President Emmanuel Macron called this summit a wake-up call for Europe since it is falling behind in the AI race.

The countries who attended the summit had to sign a non-binding declaration of ‘Pledge for a Trustworthy AI in the World of Work.’

The declaration has 6 main priorities: ensuring that AI is safe and transparent, enabling an environment for innovation, making artificial intelligence sustainable for the world, and internationally cooperating to promote international governance.

Canada, China, France, and India signed the declaration, except the US and UK.

The United States did not explain its decision not to sign the declaration.

United States Vice President JD Vance stated in his summit speech that the administration is worried that overly stringent regulations will not allow growth in the AI industry.

He blasted European regulatory systems for putting many restrictions and causing endless legal compliance fees for businesses. He cautioned that strict regulations could hinder revolutionary growth in the industry.

For the UK, a Prime Minister Keir Starmer spokesman stated that they felt that the declaration did not sufficiently address questions around national security and the challenge of AI.

The United States used to have a powerful grip on AI dominance, but China broke the crown with its launch of DeepSeek, similar to ChatGPT, developed at a fraction of the cost.

Toby Walsh, chief scientist at the Institute at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, stated that it is an AI tech race between the United States and China, and it has just begun.

OpenAI used to be the hare running in front of the race when it launched ChatGPT on November 30, 2022.

Once launched, everyone went crazy for it, and it became the fastest-growing consumer app, with more than 100 million users by January.

Then Google’s Gemini and Elon Musk’s Grok slowly eased their way into the race midway.

President Donald Trump gave a thumbs up at the start of his second term on January 20 to fully support AI development in the United States.

There was a recent joint venture among OpenAI, Softbank, and Oracle called Stargate, which will build data centers and create 100,000 jobs.

In March 2023, Chinese tech firm Baidu gave its response to ChatGPT with Ernie Bot. However, as the AI race intensified, it saw some early setbacks. Now, Baidu has announced making chatbot Ernie Bot free of charge from April 1.

By the end of January, Chinese startup DeepSeek shocked the entire world with the release of its AI chatbot model. DeepSeek used less advanced and fewer computer chips. The development team informed that they spent less than $6 million to train the model, which is a fraction of the budget used by US tech companies.

Jody Westby, CEO of Global Cyber Risk, a technology and advisory firm that provides cybersecurity services, stated that  OpenAI and DeepSeek had different approaches to artificial intelligence development.

She added that the United States has made significant investments in artificial intelligence but has also imposed export restrictions on key regions for cloud computing processors and the management of resources for its development.

Westby said that one of the summit’s goals was to create a less complicated environment for Europe’s artificial intelligence development.

She added that it will be challenging since the European Union (EU) has made comprehensive, overarching regulations for the use and development of artificial intelligence.

Monck stated that he agreed with Macron’s opening remarks during the summit. He remarked that it was a wake-up announcement. The next few years will be very challenging if Europe does not see the economic expansion extend beyond the United States to the rest of the world.