US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday criticised Europe for over-regulating the rapid development of AI and called on the continent to stop trying to rein in big tech, further heightening diplomatic tension between the US and Europe.
Speaking at an AI summit in Paris in his first major overseas trip since his nomination, Mr Vance said the Trump administration was “troubled by the fact that some foreign countries are considering tightening the screws on US tech companies with international footprints”.
Mr Vance, who did not name the countries he was referring to, said that this was “a terrible mistake, not just for the United States of America, but for your own countries”.
Social media platform X, owned by US President Donald Trump's adviser Elon Musk, has been at the heart of a controversy between the US and Europe, where politicians have accused X of pushing far-right views and distorting its algorithms. An investigation was recently launched against X in France.
The European Commission has also sought to curb disinformation and illegal content on social media with its EU's digital services act. This has forced some US companies to block EU users, Mr Vance said. “Is this really the future that we want? Ladies and gentlemen, I think the answer for all of us should be no,” Mr Vance said.
The US and Britain did not sign up to the leaders' declaration at the climax of the summit on "Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence". A UK government spokesperson cited "national interest" for Britain not signing. China, France, Germany and India were among 61 signatories who agreed it is a priority that "AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy" under "international frameworks".
A dozen world leaders attended the two-day summit, shortly after the first measures of the EU AI act came into effect. It bans the use of high-risk uses of AI such as building facial recognition databases developed by scraping images online or through security footage or emotion recognition systems used at the workplace.
“We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it's taking off,” Mr Vance said. “I would like to see that deregulatory flavour making its way into a lot of the conversations into a lot of conversations.”
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron told the summit Europe would cut back on regulation to make it easier for AI to flourish in the region, urging investment in the EU - and more specifically in France. "We will simplify," Mr Macron said. "It's very clear we have to resynchronise with the rest of the world."
In a pitch to big US firms Mr Macron said France would "work together" with others "whatever the geopolitics will be". He added that France's energy grid and large amounts of nuclear energy meant it was more sustainable and had enough capacity to house large new data centres needed to prop up the notoriously power-hungry technology.
He said: "It's very important, in this world, where I have a friend on the other side of the ocean who says 'drill, baby, drill' - here there is no need to drill.
"It's just 'plug, baby, plug'. Electricity is available. You can plug. It's ready."
In her speech on Tuesday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the AI Act was important in providing safety for the EU's 450 million citizens. “Safety is in the interest of business. At the same time, I know, we have to make it easier, we have to cut red tape. And we will,” Ms von der Leyen said.
Ms von der Leyen also pushed back against Mr Trump's announcement of a 25 per cent increase on steel and aluminium import. “Tariffs are taxes – bad for business, worse for consumers. Unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered – they will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures,” Ms von der Leyen said.
“The EU stands united in defending the interests of its businesses, workers and citizens,” echoed European Council President Antonio Costa on X.
