13 Feb 2025

What were the outcomes of the Paris AI Action Summit? 

Building on the foundations laid at Bletchley Park and Seoul, the Paris AI Action Summit was a gathering of nearly a hundred countries and over a thousand stakeholders from the private sector and civil society, Discussions at the official Summit, held over two days, focused on three critical areas: accelerating global AI development, managing the AI transition while protecting individual freedoms, and aligning AI with humanist values.  

This insight outlines four key developments and announcements that came out of the summit in the areas of safety, investment, sustainability and international cooperation. These were:  

  • Launch of Current AI with its $400 million investment in public interest AI development 

 

The inaugural International AI Safety Report represents a significant collaborative effort involving 96 AI experts, including an international Expert Advisory Panel with representatives from 30 countries, the OECD, EU, and UN. Released following an interim publication in May 2024, the report focuses specifically on general-purpose AI systems - those capable of performing a wide variety of tasks. Rather than offering policy recommendations, it aims to provide objective scientific information across three core questions: the capabilities of general-purpose AI, its associated risks, and potential mitigation techniques. 

Current AI, a groundbreaking initiative launched at the Paris AI Action Summit, has emerged with a $400 million initial investment from the French government, philanthropies, and industry leaders including Google and Salesforce. Led by Martin Tisné and supported by prominent AI figures like Reid Hoffman, Clement Delangue, Patrick Pérez, Arthur Mensch, and Jonas Andrulis, the initiative aims to develop open and ethically governed AI models that serve the public interest.  

The project focuses on four key areas: expanding access to valuable datasets in health, education, and media while maintaining privacy; developing AI models for real-world challenges; supporting open standards and tools; and ensuring accountability through transparency and public oversight. With strong backing from President Macron and the French government, Current AI represents a significant commitment to building AI systems that prioritise transparency, fairness, and global equity, ensuring that AI development is shaped by and serves those who will be most affected by its advancement. 

The Coalition for Environmentally Sustainable Artificial Intelligence (AI), was also launched at the Summit.  A significant global partnership of 91 members, including 37 tech companies, ten countries, and key international organisations such as UNDP, IEA, and GGGI. Led by France, UNEP, and ITU, this initiative aims to address the environmental impact of AI development while recognising its potential benefits.  

The Coalition seeks to elevate sustainable AI considerations to the same level of importance as AI security and ethics in global discussions, bringing together stakeholders across the AI value chain to foster dialogue and implement ambitious collaborative initiatives that will guide AI development toward a more environmentally sustainable future. 

Finally, France put forward an AI declaration for the development of AI technologies. While other countries in attendance signed the agreement, the US and the UK have not. This statement on ‘Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence for People and the Planet’ outlines the outcomes of the summit. 

The statement provides an overview of the AI Action Summit’s priorities, including promoting AI accessibility to reduce digital divides, ensuring AI systems are ethical and trustworthy, enabling innovation while preventing market concentration, and making AI sustainable.  

The statement then lists avenues to deliver on these priorities. This included the launch of a Public Interest AI Platform (Current AI) and Incubator by founding members including Kenya, Germany, Chile, and others, aimed at supporting digital public goods and technical assistance. The statement acknowledges that the AI Action Summit featured the first-ever multi-stakeholder discussion on AI and energy, leading to plans for an observatory on AI's energy impact, and announced the creation of a network of Observatories to study AI's impact on job markets. 

The statement acknowledges existing international AI initiatives and frameworks, including those from the UN, UNESCO, African Union, OECD, Council of Europe, EU, G7, and G20.The document references previous AI summits (Bletchley Park and Seoul) and mentions upcoming events, including the Kigali Summit, the 3rd Global Forum on Ethics of AI in Thailand, and the 2025 World AI Conference. 

Finally, the French presidency has announced that India will host the next AI summit. 

 

Want to review what happened in Paris each day? Check out our daily updates from the ground:

▪️ Day 1 - https://www.techuk.org/resource/ai-action-summit-day-1.html

▪️ Day 2 - https://www.techuk.org/resource/ai-safety-summit-day-2.html

▪️ Day 3 - https://www.techuk.org/resource/ai-action-summit-day-3.html

▪️ Day 4 - https://www.techuk.org/resource/ai-action-summit-day-4.html

▪️ Day 5 - https://www.techuk.org/resource/ai-safety-summit-day-5.html

 

If you are interested in learning more about our work in Digital Ethics and AI Safety programming please contact [email protected], for our work in AI Adoption please contact [email protected], and for our work on Data and AI Policy please contact [email protected]. 

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