Trump administration's stance heading into Paris AI summit: 'America first'

The Paris AI Action Summit is officially underway. All eyes are on the US and China, as discussions begin regarding the future of work, AI governance, AI for public good, and the risks of AI.

A key talking point in the lead-up to the event surrounds the US administration's stance on AI. President Trump has been vocal about his desire to make the US the 'world capital of artificial intelligence', quickly implementing his administration's own AI policies shortly after being sworn in.

"[We] must develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas," he said.

The executive order, issued last month, would replace the policies formerly instated by President Biden. Also outlined were a series of 'Manhattan Projects' that would advance the development of artificial intelligence - emphasizing AI innovations in the military sector and global monitoring for foreign adversaries.

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Credit: Yurii Gripas / Abaca / Bloomberg

Trump has iterated how DeepSeek was a "wake-up call" for the US tech industry, and accusations have been levied against DeepSeek for training their models on stolen data from OpenAI. Heading into day 2 of the summit, competition with China will inevitably underpin much of the discussions.

Regardless of the elephant in the room, the summit stands as a global conversation on artificial intelligence. France has just announced their $113 billion investment in AI, and leaders from 100+ nations will be looking to establish their own positions in the AI race.

In terms of understanding actionable takeaways from the summit - we'll have to wait and see what day 2 has in store.