‘Look To This New Frontier With Optimism’: Vance Urges World Leaders To Follow America’s Lead On AI

Vice President JD Vance addressed world leaders at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday, pointing to the U.S. as the global leader on “one of the most promising technologies we have seen in generations.”

The conference included world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and tech executives. In his speech, the vice president outlined four key points he says the Trump administration will strive for in its AI policy: making America the “gold standard” of AI, fighting excessive regulation in the industry, preventing political bias in AI, and advocating for American workers as the technology continues to develop.

“This administration will continue to ensure that American AI technology continues to be the gold standard worldwide,” Vance said. “And we are the partner of choice for others, foreign countries, and certainly businesses, as they expand their own use of AI.”

To “safeguard” America’s place at the top of AI development, Vance said the Trump administration will “ensure that the most powerful AI systems are built in the U.S. with American designed and manufactured chips.” He emphasized that while the U.S. will strive to independently develop AI technology, the Trump administration also desires a partnership with other countries.

“We want to embark on the AI revolution before us with a spirit of openness and collaboration, but to create that kind of trust, we need international regulatory regimes that foster the creation of AI technology rather than strangle it,” Vance remarked. “And we need our European friends in particular to look to this new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation.”

Citing President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on AI, Vance said the U.S. would pursue an “AI action plan that avoids overly precautionary regulatory regime while ensuring that all Americans benefit from the technology and its transformative potential.” One day after being sworn into office, Trump announced a $500 billion investment to build AI infrastructure in the U.S., a move the president said would help America compete with foreign adversaries such as China.

Vance called out foreign governments that were “tightening the screws” on AI development by regulating tech companies “with international footprints.” He said that “America cannot and will not accept that,” adding that heavy regulation on the tech sector is “a terrible mistake, not just for the United States of America, but for your own countries.”

Vance said he strongly agrees with the argument previously put forward by Prime Minister Modi that AI will “facilitate” the creation of more jobs.

“It is not going to replace human beings. It will never replace human beings,” Vance added. “And I think too many leaders in the AI industry — when they talk about this fear of replacing workers — I think they really miss the point. AI, we believe, is going to make us more productive, more prosperous, and more free.”

The vice president also commented on the Trump administration’s desire to keep ideological bias out of AI and protect Americans’ right to free speech as AI progresses. He reminded the audience of when AI systems generated historically inaccurate images of George Washington as a black man and American infantrymen in World War I as women.

“Now, we laugh at this now, and of course it was ridiculous, but we have to remember the lessons from that ridiculous moment,” Vance said. “And what we take from it is that 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.”