- Vice President JD Vance is making his international debut in Paris and Munich
Vice President J.D. Vance outlined a vision of American dominance in the global A.I. race on Tuesday, warning that Washington will block foreign efforts to weaponize the new technology.
‘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,’ he said during an address at France’s AI Action Summit in Paris.
‘I want to be clear, this administration will block such efforts, full stop.’
The vice president is making his international debut as the White House positions him as a roving mouthpiece for Donald Trump.
He will meet French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the European commission president later in the day.
And on Thursday he flies to Germany for the Munich Security Conference.
But Tuesday brought together world leaders for a major summit on a technology that stands on the brink of upending the workplace and global relations.
Vance fired the starting gun in a new race and made clear he had no time for regulation that would slow down development in the U.S.
Vice President J.D. Vance outlined a vision of American dominance in the global A.I. race on Tuesday, warning that Washington will block foreign efforts to weaponize the new technology
Vance is making his international debut in Paris before flying to Munich, Germany
He also made clear that the Trump administration would ensure the new technology stayed in line with its aims.
‘I’m not here this morning to talk about AI safety, which was the title of the conference a couple of years ago,’ he said. ‘I’m here to talk about AI opportunity.’
He took a shot at Europe, saying it had become too focused on regulation, as he said the US would remain the leader in the technology
‘This administration will ensure that American AI technology continues to be the gold standard worldwide, and we are the partner of choice for other foreign countries and certainly businesses as they expand their own use of AI,’ he said.
‘Number two, we believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off, and we’ll make every effort to encourage pro-growth AI policies, and I’d like to see that deregulatory flavour making its way into a lot of the conversations at this conference.’
He also said the U.S. would work to ensure the technology remained free of ‘ideological bias.’
‘The Trump administration will ensure that AI systems developed in America are free from ideological bias and never restrict our citizens’ right to free speech,’ he said.
Vance arrived with his family from Washington, D.C., a day earlier
‘We can trust our people to think, to consume information, to develop their own ideas and to debate with one another in the open marketplace of ideas.’
One of the key questions around the technology is how to fuel its huge energy demands.
Macron laid down a challenge to the U.S. and the Trump administration.
When it comes to electricity, France would not adopt a ‘drill, baby, drill’ approach, he said, but instead tap its clean power so companies could ‘plug, baby, plug’ to meet AI’s voracious power needs.
