Paris AI summit forecast: more talk than action
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Workers set up Sunday inside Paris' Grand Palais, where the AI Action Summit kicked off today. Photo: Ina Fried/Axios
An international AI summit in Paris this week is set to address a broader range of issues than similar past gatherings, but there are growing concerns that the event will take little concrete action.
Why it matters: With perhaps only a couple of years left before the tech industry delivers super-powerful AI — sometimes called artificial general intelligence (AGI) — society has precious little time to prepare for its many impacts.
Driving the news: Organized by the governments of France and India, the AI Action Summit is bringing together dozens of heads of state and top executives from OpenAI, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Anthropic as well as representatives from academia and nonprofits.
- Two prior gatherings — in Bletchley Park, England, and Seoul, South Korea — focused largely on the existential risks posed by AI. But this week's event is taking a wider lens, exploring climate impact, income inequality, bias and other issues.
One hoped-for outcome was a communique to be agreed upon by as many nations as possible.
- Critics had already assailed a leaked draft as vague and lacking in accountability. Now sources tell Axios that the U.S. is unlikely to agree to sign on based on the current draft.
- The statement was drafted with input from the Biden administration, but the Trump administration has shown a desire to go in new directions, including a fresh call for public input on a national AI strategy.
A couple of other tangible efforts are proceeding as planned.
- They include a new public-private partnership called Current AI, with $400 million in initial funding from a host of entities including the French government, Google, Salesforce and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur and Patrick J. McGovern foundations.
- The Current AI effort also has backing from Chile, Finland, Germany, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Slovenia and Switzerland.
- Among Current AI's stated aims are expanding access to high-quality public and private datasets, investing in open-source tools and infrastructure and developing systems to measure AI's social and environmental impact.
Also set to be announced Monday is Robust Open Online Safety Tools (ROOST) — an effort to make openly available a set of tools needed to ensure online safety in the AI era.
- Founding partners include Eric Schmidt, Discord, OpenAI, Google, Roblox, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, AI Collaborative, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and Project Liberty Institute. Organizers say ROOST has raised $27 million to fund its first four years of operations.
Between the lines: While action stemming from the summit may be limited, there are still benefits to gathering the key stakeholders, notably including government officials from both China and the U.S., whose delegation is led by Vice President JD Vance.
Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis, in an interview with Axios, said that a lack of international cooperation around AI norms and standards heightens international risks — particularly, that countries racing to bar other nations from gaining a technological edge could make choices harmful to humanity as a whole.
- Hassabis said he planned to spend much of his time in Paris seeking common ground and strengthening global ties. But he acknowledged the current geopolitical environment makes such cooperation challenging.
- "It seems to be very difficult for the world to do — just look at climate," he told Axios. "There seems to be less cooperation. So, you know, that doesn't bode well."
- He added that there probably isn't enough talk happening now about the challenges that will come even if AGI is developed safely. "I think there needs to be more time spent by economists ... and philosophers and social scientists on 'What do we want the world to be like?'" Hassabis said.
Zoom in: Officials from government, business, academia and civil society gathered at a number of side events on Sunday to discuss current efforts.
- At an event dubbed AI Safety Connect 2025, the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, with support from the Future of Life Institute (FLI), officially launched GRASP (Global Risk and AI Safety Preparedness), which aims to map and categorize AI safety tools.
- At another venue in Paris on Sunday, Humane Intelligence hosted the AI & Society House, with a day of programming looking at issues including the potential for AI to accelerate hate speech, gender violence and extremism.
- Meanwhile, at the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Paris, Microsoft and Abu Dhabi-based partner G42 formally launched the new Responsible AI Foundation, which aims to promote AI standards and best practices for the Middle East and other countries in the Global South.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with information about the announcement of ROOST. Also, this story has been corrected to note that ROOST organizers say they've raised $27 million (not $24 million).
