U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrives to attend the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, February 11, 2025. / REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Europeans on Feb. 11 their "massive" regulations on artificial intelligence could strangle the technology, and rejected content moderation as "authoritarian censorship".

In another sign of divergence on AI governance, the United States and Britain did not sign up to the final statement of a French-hosted AI summit that said AI should be inclusive, open, ethical and safe.

The mood on AI has shifted as the technology takes root, from one of concerns around safety to geopolitical competition, as countries jockey to nurture the next big AI giant.

Setting out the Trump administration's America First agenda, Vance said the United States intended to remain the dominant force in AI and strongly opposed the European Union's far tougher regulatory approach.

"We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry," Vance told the summit of CEOs and heads of state in Paris.

"We feel very strongly that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship."

Vance criticised the "massive regulations" created by the EU's Digital Services Act, as well as Europe's online privacy rules, known by the acronym GDPR, which he said meant endless legal compliance costs for smaller firms.

"Of course, we want to ensure the internet is a safe place, but 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," he said.

European lawmakers last year approved the bloc's AI Act, the world's first comprehensive set of rules governing the technology.

Vance is leading the American delegation at the Paris summit. He left just after his speech, without listening to European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who spoke right after him, or French President Emmanuel Macron, who gave the closing speech. He later met separately with each, for talks.

CHINA WARNING

In his speech, Vance also appeared to take aim at China at a delicate moment for the U.S. technology sector.

Last month, Chinese startup DeepSeek freely distributed a powerful AI reasoning model that some said challenged U.S. technology leadership. It sent shares of American chip designer Nvidia down 17 percent.

"From CCTV to 5G equipment, we're all familiar with cheap tech in the marketplace that's been heavily subsidised and exported by authoritarian regimes," Vance said.

But "partnering with them means chaining your nation to an authoritarian master that seeks to infiltrate, dig in and seize your information infrastructure," he added.

Vance did not mention DeepSeek by name. There has been no evidence that information could surreptitiously flow through the startup's technology to China’s government, and the underlying code is freely available to use and view. However, some government organisations have reportedly banned DeepSeek’s use.

EU TO CUT RED TAPE

Macron told the summit 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. "We need a trustworthy AI," he said.

Von der Leyen also said the EU would reduce bureaucracy and invest more in AI.

The United States and Britain did not immediately explain why they had not signed the AI Summit's declaration, as shown by a published text, while at least 60 countries including China had done so.

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing told the summit that China was willing to work with other countries to safeguard security and share achievements in the field of artificial intelligence to build "a community with a shared future for mankind".

A source close to organisers said they were not surprised that the United States had not signed, considering their stance on regulation.

A British government source cited concerns about some of the language which Britain could not get changed, and said the approach agreed at the Paris summit was "pretty different" to the first AI Safety summit, which was hosted by Britain in 2023.

"Clearly from JD Vance's speech, the U.S. policy has an unequivocal shift now," said Russell Wald, executive director at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

"Safety is not going to be the primary focus but instead it's going to be accelerated innovation and the belief that the technology is an opportunity, and safety equals regulation, regulation equals losing that opportunity."

Dario Amodei, chief executive of the OpenAI competitor Anthropic, which has aimed to distinguish its work as more safety-focused, said the summit represented a "missed opportunity" to address supply chain controls, AI's security risks and expected labour market disruption.