Paris, where the world left AI safety and regulation concerns behind

Frank Hersey
13 February 2025

The global AI summit series will continue, with its next iteration now to be fully hosted by India. But the Paris summit this week saw a stark downgrading of previous headline concerns over AI safety and regulation, and a new front line emerge of “democratic” versus “autocratic” AI. The summit series is keeping the global conversation on AI issues going, but the focus has shifted to national competition, not protecting against global risks. Read more

US, UK have ‘winning' AI regulation strategy, unlike EU, former Google boss says

Frank Hersey
13 February 2025

The US and UK approach to regulating AI is a “winning strategy,” according to former Google chief Eric Schmidt, while the EU is lagging through its "strong" regulation and a lack of integrated markets. Speaking in Paris after the AI Action Summit, the billionaire tech investor said of Europe that "the system doesn't work right. They can't build big enough companies. The markets are not integrated.” Read more

OpenAI pivots to provider of ‘democratic AI’ in face of ‘autocratic AI’

Frank Hersey
12 February 2025

OpenAI hopes to expand its shift into providing government services and is briefing government on preparing their entire economies for the impact of AI. It is also repositioning its services as “democratic AI” which it wants to make available to governments around the world, rather than them running “autocratic AI” systems, said staff at a briefing on the sidelines of the Paris AI Safety Summit yesterday. Read more

Tech companies should see tighter AI competition rules, EU countries say

Luca Bertuzzi
10 February 2025

Large tech companies should see a more assertive EU regulatory stance in ensuring competition in the AI market, France, Germany and the Netherlands have said in a draft paper seen by MLex. The three countries called for capturing AI and cloud services under the Digital Markets Act, introducing a supervisory fee for gatekeepers, and a stronger oversight on partnerships and mergers in the AI space. Read more

Is the all-action Paris AI summit more about France, Europe or the world?

Frank Hersey
10 February 2025

The Paris AI Action Summit got under way today with high and broad ambitions. But for whom? A new global foundation is to be unveiled, focused on broadening the AI "ecosystem." So is a new mechanism for protecting intellectual property. China looks set for a warm welcome, even as DeepSeek has shaken the global AI tech order. Safety may remain important, but it is again less prominent. One of the dominant narratives, though, appears to be the desire of the EU, and even more so for France, to secure investment in their AI sectors. Read more

Big tech voluntary pledges on AI reporting bring confusion, summit hears

Frank Hersey
10 February 2025

Big tech’s responses to various voluntary commitments on AI risk reporting are resulting in more complexity for AI developers and patchy results, say speakers at the Paris AI summit. Legislation could be needed to get a clear understanding of the risks, but the G7 Hiroshima process is standardizing the questions in the meantime. Read more

Nvidia, China’s MiniMax and 01.ai pledge AI safety commitments ahead of summit

Frank Hersey
7 February 2025

Nvidia, Magic AI and Chinese companies MiniMax and 01.ai are joining major US artificial intelligence developers such as Google, OpenAI and Microsoft by signing up to commitments for responsible AI development and deployment agreed at a summit in Seoul last May. The additions bring a significant increase in the number of Chinese companies represented, just ahead of a follow-up summit in Paris next week. Read more

Why DeepSeek worries many but cheers others in South Korea

Choonsik Yoo
7 February 2025

While the sweeping early success of the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek has stirred concerns over privacy and security risks in many countries, not everyone is worried, with many in South Korea viewing the development as a boost to the country's efforts to keep up with the global AI innovation race. Investors in South Korea welcome DeepSeek's success story as offering hope to mostly low-budget startups in one of the world’s closest trade and business partners to China. Experts also say the development may underscore South Korea’s strategic importance for the Donald Trump administration. Read more

Japan's Dabus AI patent ruling affirms status quo but highlights global IP challenges

Toko Sekiguchi
7 February 2025

In a pivotal moment for Japan's intellectual property landscape, the country's Intellectual Property High Court ruled against recognizing artificial intelligence systems as inventors. The ruling comes at a time when Japanese policymakers are increasingly calling for a reevaluation of patent laws to accommodate the growing influence of AI in the invention process. Read more

Tech industry pushes for carveouts in state election deepfake bills

Amy Miller
14 February 2025

Tech companies are worried they could be held liable for the spread of election-related deepfakes powered by artificial intelligence under proposed legislation in Connecticut and Maryland. Nearly two dozen US states are considering bills this year aimed at stopping election-related deepfakes, and the tech industry wants to make sure the online tools or platforms used to create and share them aren't held responsible. Read more

Health insurers' use of AI to deny claims in US states' crosshairs

Amy Miller
6 February 2025

Democratic and Republican state legislators across the US are following California's lead and introducing bills to stop health insurance companies from only using artificial intelligence to deny claims. It's another example of states stepping in to regulate AI as the Trump Administration rolls back regulations introduced during the Biden Administration. “One day we're going to be comfortable with AI deciding our fates,” said Arizona Rep. Justin Wilmeth, a Republican. “We’re not there yet.” Read more

California AG preparing to enforce both new, older laws on AI providers

Mike Swift
5 February 2025

From privacy to antitrust to civil rights, artificial intelligence products are subject to a long list of California state laws including several that became effective this year, California’s attorney general warned in issuing legal advisories that could be a prelude to enforcement actions. Attorney General Rob Bonta's twin AI advisories on applicable AI laws and the use of AI in healthcare detail both a dozen newly enacted California AI laws, as well as laws like the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the Cartwright Act that are more than half a century old. Read more