Paris AI Summit: will it go beyond short-term wins and work towards a sustainable future with AI?

This week's AI Action Summit held in Paris gathers powerful leaders from across the globe to discuss the critical questions about the future of AI development.

We spoke with Henley academics for their views.

Dr Fabio Goncalves de Oliveira

"The upcoming AI Action Summit in Paris presents a paradox. While it gathers global leaders from the public and private sectors to address crucial questions about AI development, accessibility, and ethical implications, the current geopolitical climate, marked by increasing localism and economic protectionism, casts doubt on the potential for meaningful, unified action.

The co-chairing of the event by the Indian Prime Minister, while symbolically significant, raises concerns. India's nascent AI sector, despite recent announcements regarding LLM development and GPU acquisition, lacks the established infrastructure and clear strategic roadmap of other nations. This may signal a focus on symbolic participation rather than substantive contributions.

Conversely, France appears poised to leverage the summit to bolster its domestic AI capabilities, building on recent large-scale investment partnerships, such as the reported $50 billion agreement with the UAE. Further announcements of French AI infrastructure funding are anticipated, potentially exacerbating the uneven playing field in global AI development.

A key challenge will be bridging the deep divides between major players like the US, China, and the EU. Their divergent approaches to AI regulation, exemplified by the EU's more restrictive AI Act versus the less stringent environments in the US and China, create significant obstacles to harmonized global standards.

The UK's seemingly diminished presence in pre-summit discussions, despite its recent AI Opportunities Action Plan, is also noteworthy. This raises questions about its influence and strategic alignment within the evolving global AI landscape.

Ultimately, this summit, like its predecessors, risks reinforcing the politicisation of AI. Instead of fostering international consensus, it may simply provide a platform for nations to individually assess their positions in the race for AI dominance, driven primarily by the perceived economic potential of this technology. The focus appears to be shifting from global collaborative problem-solving to national competitive advantage, potentially hindering the development of a truly inclusive and ethically sound global AI ecosystem".

Professor Keiichi Nakata

This AI summit is ambitious – after the first two AI summits in UK and South Korea which put “safety” as the main theme, this is called the AI Action Summit. This sends a signal that there is an urgency to take concrete actions on a range of themes and calls for concerted efforts by global players which is well-intended – however, this is overshadowed by politics.

It has the danger of being used as a platform for various countries and techs to assert their position in the “AI race” rather than focussing on the substance of issues that require international effort. If we follow this path, competition seems to prevail over cooperation. If the US, which is considered to be leading the “AI race” at the moment, decides to take a similar stance as they are with climate change, it will put in question whether any meaningful actions will emerge from the summit.

Among the five main themes at the Summit, the Future of Work track that aims “to promote socially responsible use of artificial intelligence through sustained social dialogue” is particularly challenging, as it will encompass the multi-faceted issue of responsible and sustainable AI.

Social dialogue is important but takes time and patience, and is often neglected in the race for technological dominance. Whatever the outcome, the Summit should go beyond short-term wins and work towards a sustainable future with AI.