All eyes will be on France next week as representatives of nearly 100 countries will gather to consider risks of AI at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit.
World powers are expected to reckon with the dangers of AI in Paris and hold discussions around the emergence of Chinese AI model DeepSeek, which has recently shaken up the tech sector.
The summit will be co-presided by French president Emannuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
When is the AI Action Summit 2025?
The AI Action Summit will be held over two days, and is scheduled on Monday, February 10 and Tuesday, February 11.
However, several pre-summit events are also on the agenda, including some for the public to attend, addressing the transformations brought by artificial intelligence. The AI action week programme officially begins on Thursday, when the Institut Polytechnique de Paris will organise an international scientific conference about AI, Science and Society on its campus between on February 6 and 7.
Then, on February 8 and 9, similar events will be held, with some focused on culture and AI. According to the Élysée presidential palace’s website, “the aim will be both to present works produced by artists using artificial intelligence and to address the debates sparked by the emergence of AI technologies in this sector (copyright, heritage, shifts for museums, artistic potential expressed thanks to and using artificial intelligence, etc.)”.
Other events will take place at the same time as the summit, including a ‘Business Day’ on February 11. It aims to highlight the transformative role of artificial intelligence for business development.
Where is the AI Action Summit being held?
The summit itself will convene at the historic Grand Palais, which comprises three major sites. One of them, The Palais de la Découverte, is a museum and cultural centre dedicated to science.
Grand Palais was last year’s Olympic Games venue for the fencing and taekwondo competitions.
Who is attending the AI Action Summit?
The summit will gather heads of state and top government officials, along with CEOs of smaller and larger companies.
According to a French diplomatic source, JD Vance will attend the summit next week in his first overseas trip as U.S. Vice President. Meanwhile, China is reportedly sending one of its most senior leading, Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang.
Top executives from businesses boasting big names in the tech sector, including Microsoft, are also set to attend the event. Tuesday’s talks should include one made by Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, Reuters reported.
The night before, a dinner for top officials and CEOs is scheduled at the Élysée Palace.
What’s on the agenda?
The summit will address frameworks for AI policy including ‘harnessing AI for the future of work’ and ‘leveraging AI to protect democracies’.
Mitigating labour disruption and promoting sovereignty in a global AI market are also on the agenda - though creating new regulation is not, as Europe and France especially reel from the red tape.
Rules, which have lagged American companies, could slow down their national champions. Countries like France are considering the most flexible ways possible to implement the EU AI Act so it does not discourage innovation, according to summit insiders. For these countries, the focus could be on distributing AI’s benefits to developing nations, via cheaper models including France’s startup Mistral.
One other such model is China’s startup DeepSeek, which claims to offer functions at a level comparable to its rivals and at a lower cost. However, fears have presided among people in the US that it will turn out to be the new TikTok, encroaching on the market share of US tech giants.
