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In his Tuesday talk at this week’s “AI Action Summit” in Paris—his first major speech since taking office last month—Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. is winning the AI race and regulation should be light to allow that victory to continue (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).

• “We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off,” said Vance, who then cited the European regulations he believes are burdensome to U.S. businesses. “We need our European friends in particular to look to this new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation.”

A crucial crossroads: Europe is at a critical juncture where artificial intelligence investment is concerned, French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday, as Paris prepared to host the summit (The New York Times, subscription). 

• The two-day event reflected a shifting “global mood … as AI becomes widespread and countries jostle to build the technology’s next giant.” 
• On Sunday evening, just prior to the event’s Monday start, Macron announced approximately $112 billion in AI development investment in France in the coming years, with a large portion of the funds going toward data center construction.
• The investments include financing by Canada and the United Arab Emirates.   

On the same page: Macron acknowledged the need to regulate AI (e.g., to safeguard intellectual property)—but he also called it “a technological and scientific revolution like few we’ve seen before” and said it represents a “moment of opportunity for mankind. … If we regulate before we innovate, we won’t have any innovation of our own,” according to the New York Times. 

• France hopes to use the summit to position Europe “as a top contender—not just a leading regulator—in a global competition where the United States and China are so far the biggest players.”
• Because France gets about 70% of its power from nuclear energy, it has the capability to build out its data center capacity without worrying about carbon emissions, Macron added. 

Seeking a balance: “[T]he conference also laid bare a nagging issue facing world leaders: how to stay atop a growing AI arms race while managing its associated fears,” such as “deepfakes,” or video, images and audio made to look authentic using AI. 
 
Our view: “The NAM has called for a tailored, light-touch regulatory approach to AI,” said NAM Senior Director of Technology Policy Franck Journoud. “Flexibility and context-specific rules are crucial to support the innovation necessary to develop and deploy rapidly evolving AI systems that are game-changers for modern manufacturers.”