France to Host AI Action Summit Aiming for European AI Dominance

The AI Action Summit in France, scheduled for February 10-11, positions Europe as a leading force in artificial intelligence. Following the UK’s Bletchley Park summit and South Korea’s event in Seoul, this summit aims to ensure AI respects fundamental values and builds trust. It gathers heads of state, international organizations, and businesses to discuss AI’s potential for beneficial social, economic, and environmental outcomes. The summit’s main objectives include launching a global platform for AI capacity building, promoting sustainable AI standards and investments, and clarifying existing global and bilateral initiatives.

Five working groups will guide the discussions, each led by different countries. Brazil and Morocco will focus on Public Interest AI, Italy on the Future of Work, the European Commission on Innovation and Culture, South Korea and the UK on Trust in AI, and India and Canada on Global Governance of AI. These groups aim to address various aspects of AI implementation and governance, ensuring AI’s positive impact on society.

The European Commission is establishing its AI office as a hub of expertise following the EU AI Act’s agreement last year. This office will play a crucial role in implementing the Act’s rules, which are the first globally to regulate AI systems based on societal risk. Some provisions, including those for general-purpose AI models, will come into effect this August, with full applicability by 2027.

Previous summits in the UK and South Korea laid the groundwork for international cooperation on AI safety and standards. The UK’s summit resulted in an agreement to combat catastrophic AI risks, while the Seoul event saw nations like the EU, UK, US, Japan, and Canada commit to developing AI safety institutes to align research on machine learning standards and testing.

Source: France’s AI summit aims to put EU on the map as ‘leading AI continent’