AI Action Summit may signal a turning point in artificial intelligence regulation

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AI Action Summit may signal a turning point in artificial intelligence regulation

Shifts in the tone of debates and the stance of major powers suggest a new balance between AI innovation and governance

Eduardo Felipe Matias

From February 10 to 11, Paris hosted the AI Action Summit, bringing together representatives from over 100 countries, including heads of state and government, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, and academia. The event signaled significant changes in how artificial intelligence (AI) is perceived, especially regarding its regulation – a topic that affects future prospects for the business environment in this area and should be closely monitored by any company planning to develop this technology, integrate it into their activities, or invest in it.

A key highlight was that, for the first time, AI sustainability was placed at the center of the discussions. For the first time, a summit of this kind – Paris follows two other global meetings on AI, held in the United Kingdom in 2023 and South Korea in 2024 – addressed the complex relationship between AI development and excessive energy consumption. During the event, eleven countries, five international organizations, and 37 tech companies joined the Coalition for Sustainable AI, committing to reduce the environmental impact of this technology. Additionally, the International Energy Agency launched a global observatory on energy and AI, dedicated to monitoring and optimizing the energy efficiency of AI models. A hackathon was also held with the challenge of promoting “frugal AI,” in which more than 60 teams of data scientists sought energy-efficient AI solutions for environmental issues.

However, the most significant change was a shift in focus – from viewing AI as an existential threat to emphasizing its potential benefits. The conference highlighted the positive side of the technology by showcasing 50 projects using AI for the common good. These projects were selected from over 700 applicants from around 100 countries to demonstrate their potential contribution in areas such as human rights, the environment, and culture.

This reframing of AI as an opportunity rather than a risk brought the issue of AI regulation into the spotlight, as was evident in several moments during the summit.

One such moment underscored how the U.S. position on the matter would be quite different under Trump, given the influence of big tech companies on his administration. The leadership role of these companies in shaping the global direction of AI governance was clear at the Paris meeting, where several of them – such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind – were present.

Reinforcing this impression, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, who led the American delegation, reiterated the administration’s stance against excessive regulation, arguing that it could stifle a transformative and emerging industry. Vance’s remarks align with a memorandum previously issued by Trump, stating that his administration would thoroughly review the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) – it is worth noting that on February 23, the regulatory tension between the U.S. and EU escalated when Jim Jordan, chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, requested clarifications from the EU’s antitrust chief, alleging that European rules disproportionately target American tech companies, impose severe fines, and favor competitors from the bloc.

Even more striking was the European Union’s new stance. Until now, the EU had been leading the efforts to regulate AI – its AI Act is still in the process of being implemented – but the Paris conference may represent a turning point. It became evident that some European authorities are concerned about the impact of certain rules on the bloc’s competitiveness and are willing to invest heavily to catch up in a race they’re falling behind in. French President Emmanuel Macron, who had previously stated the need to “focus on killing some crazy regulations, simplification of the current environment,” announced during the event – which he co-organized alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – €109 billion in private investments in the French AI ecosystem.

The tone of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also changed – the Commission will shelve its 2022-proposed AI Liability Directive, which sought to harmonize rules on civil liability for damages caused by AI systems and had faced opposition from the sector. In Paris, she announced the mobilization of €200 billion through the InvestAI program to boost AI in Europe.

The U.S. and the United Kingdom did not sign the final declaration of the conference, unlike more than 60 countries – including Brazil and China, one of the major players in AI – and the EU itself. In any case, the document itself says less about the future of AI regulation than the speeches and announcements made during and after the summit, which point to a search for a new balance between technological progress and responsible governance.

Nonetheless, regulation and innovation are not opposites. Trust and safety – central themes of the previous summits – are fundamental to business. The challenge is to create regulations that ensure these principles without undermining AI’s transformative potential.

Eduardo Felipe Matias?is the author of the books “Humankind and its borders” and “Humankind against the ropes”, winners of Premio Jabuti, and coordinator of the book “Startups Legal Framework”. PhD in International Law from the University of Sao Paulo, he was a visiting scholar at the universities of Columbia, in NY, and Berkeley and Stanford, in California, is a guest professor at Funda??o Dom Cabral and a partner in the business law area of?Elias, Matias Advogados.

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Article originally published in Portuguese at the Broadcast of Estad?o/Agência Estado.

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