Britain has snubbed France by joining the US in refusing to sign the Paris AI summit declaration, deepening global splits over artificial intelligence.
The Trump administration had been opposed to language in the communiqué that talked of “inclusive and sustainable” AI, and Downing Street appears to have sided with Washington.
The decision casts a shadow over the summit, which President Macron hoped would bring nations together to develop AI for the public benefit.
It also places Britain and America at odds with Europe and developing countries over approaches to AI.
The communiqué, signed by 61 countries, including China, talks of “ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent [and] ethical”, making AI “sustainable for people and the planet” and “taking into account international frameworks”. The US had pushed for such language to be taken out of the statement.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “We agreed with much of the leaders’ declaration and continue to work closely with our international partners. This is reflected in our signing of agreements on sustainability and cybersecurity today at the Paris AI Action Summit.
“However, we felt the declaration didn’t provide enough practical clarity on global governance, nor sufficiently address harder questions around national security and the challenge AI poses to it. Security remains a vital part of AI’s future and we look forward to continued discussions in this area.”
Asked if the government was concerned about upsetting France, the spokesman said: “No. We are and always have been clear-eyed on the need to ensure safety is baked into AI from the outset and that’s why we’re continuing to support the work of our AI Safety Institute.”
Sir Keir Starmer did not travel to the summit, instead sending Peter Kyle, the technology secretary.
The text was released as JD Vance, the US vice-president, warned leaders at the summit that America will not tolerate foreign governments “tightening the screws” on US companies. Vance outlined the Trump administration’s “America First” tech policy, with rebukes over misinformation rules, European regulation, “woke” AI and Chinese “theft”.
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Vance also walked out of a gala dinner hosted by Macron in protest at comments by China and did not stay for a group photo of leaders at the summit after his speech.
He said: “The Trump administration is troubled by reports that some foreign governments are considering tightening the screws on US tech companies with international footprints. Now, America cannot and will not accept that, and we think it’s a terrible mistake, not just for the United States of America, but for your own countries.”
It comes as Europe implements its AI Act and the UK begins to roll out the Online Safety Act.
Kyle pledged on Monday that Britain would not soften its online safety rules to appease Washington. He also said the UK would go ahead with a mandatory AI testing regime that would involve US companies.
Criticising misinformation rules, Vance went on: “It is one thing to prevent a predator from preying on a child on the internet, and it is something quite different to prevent a grown man or woman from accessing an opinion that the government thinks is misinformation.”
Vance outlined four principles of the administration’s policy: American AI technology continues to be the gold standard, excessive regulation of the AI sector should not be tolerated, AI must remain free from ideological bias, and American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship.
He said the “new industrial revolution” will never come to pass “if over-regulation deters innovators from taking the risks necessary”.
Standing before Macron and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, he took aim at European laws, saying: “Many of our most productive tech companies are forced to deal with the EU’s Digital Services Act and the massive regulations it created about taking down content and policing so-called misinformation.
“Meanwhile, for smaller firms, navigating the GDPR means paying endless legal compliance costs or otherwise risking massive fines. For some the easiest way to avoid the dilemma has been to simply block EU users in the first place. Is this really the future that we want? Ladies and gentlemen, I think the answer for all of us should be: no.”
With Sundar Pichai, the Google CEO, also in the audience, Vance criticised the company’s AI blunder last year in which “AI image generators [tried] to tell us that George Washington was black”.
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Vance said AI should not “become dominated by massive players looking to use the tech to censor or control users’ thoughts”.
In comments that appeared directed at China, he said: “We’ve also watched as hostile foreign adversaries have weaponised AI software to rewrite history, surveil users and censor speech.
“Some authoritarian regimes have stolen and used AI to strengthen their military intelligence and surveillance capabilities, capture foreign data and create propaganda to undermine other nations’ national security. I want to be clear, this administration will block such efforts, full stop.”
Speaking after Vance, Macron said he was in favour of trimming red tape, but stressed that regulation was needed to ensure trust in AI or people would end up rejecting it.
The leaders were joined by the music producer Pharrell Williams, who said AI was a utility for musicians and wouldn’t replace creativity, adding that there was “too much fear around it”.
Michael Birtwistle, associate director at the Ada Lovelace Institute, said: “Just a week ago, the government said it wants to see AI used ‘in a way that’s responsible and in line with values and ethics of society’. Looking at the summit declaration, it’s difficult to pinpoint what exactly in that statement the government disagrees with. We hope the UK’s decision not to sign the declaration is not a rejection of the vital governance AI needs.”
Matt Warman, the former digital minister and now director of the UKAI trade association, said: “The US is the world’s AI powerhouse, and the UK is right to seek to do all it can to attract American investment. But there are also undoubtedly areas where international co-operation is needed for public good as well. From regulation to open-source work that promotes transparency around what AI does and how it will develop, the inability to find an agreeable form of words is likely to be a sign of further disagreements to come.”
Dario Amodei, head of the AI company Anthropic, said the summit was a “missed opportunity” to ensure democratic nations controlled AI, prepare for safety threats from the technology and pre-empt its social and economic disruption.
Fei Fei Li, one of the pioneers of machine learning, welcomed Vance’s speech. She said: “I have been hearing AI speeches by heads of state for more than a decade, this is the most forceful speech about the present ‘opportunities’ in building AI, to embrace it to help people and lift society, and to unleash the potential in this profound technology.”
Benedict Macon-Cooney, chief policy strategist at Tony Blair Institute, said: “All that matters now is practical action … our leadership and strength in this area will be driven by what we build and how we deliver.”
