Opinion: How The Paris AI Summit Strengthened Europe’s AI Ecosystem, Despite Criticism

Although the international summit faced criticism, sparked further debate over the European Union AI Act, and failed to achieve full consensus among key leaders, it has positively influenced the development of artificial intelligence technologies in Europe. Companies like Mistral had the opportunity to showcase their innovations, and new investments are already underway

The Paris AI Action Summit, held last week, encouraged multiple European and international nations and companies to make major moves and announcements that increased tensions and sparked debate in the AI sphere.

French President Emmanuel Macron has urged the region to be more ambitious in AI development, just like the European Space Agency Chief Josef Aschbacher did with space initiatives a few months ago—and it worked.

Macron’s actions toward gaining more visibility and leverage in the global AI race began days before the AI Action Summit when he signed a 50 billion euro agreement with the United Arab Emirates to build the largest AI data center in Europe in France, showing that significant change on AI development is coming to the European Union.

The French president’s initiative brought world leaders together in Paris for meetings, discussions, workshops, technology demonstrations, and the signing of international agreements. However, it fell short of achieving full consensus among all participants—particularly the United States and the United Kingdom—on multiple issues.

Were Macron’s efforts, along with those of EU leaders, enough to position Europe as a major AI powerhouse alongside China and the United States? Not quite, but significant progress was made.

🌍 The #AIActionSummit: >100 countries in Paris to shape a common future for AI.

Outcome: >100 tangible actions, 3 priorities. 🧵 1/7 pic.twitter.com/kfreGtGGsE

— France Diplomacy 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@francediplo_EN) February 13, 2025

The European Union’s AI Act: The Elephant In The Room

Last year, the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act came into force, to regulate AI and ensure safety with the development of an AI risk system, including sanctions and penalties for companies, organizations, and individuals who violate the act while using AI technologies.

Of course, many tech companies and leaders raged and considered it would slow down innovation, while other organizations felt it needed further refinement. Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General of Digital Europe, described it as a “spaghetti bowl” that needed untangling.

Two weeks ago, the European Commission issued new guidelines to help companies and organizations understand the act—a few days after measures began to take effect, and right before the AI Action Summit—probably also with the hopes of tuning down the criticisms of the act.

In a negotiating attempt, Macron emphasized the importance of slightly easing the rules to maintain security without restricting the development and innovation of artificial intelligence technologies.

“There’s a risk some decide to have no rules and that’s dangerous. But there’s also the opposite risk, if Europe gives itself too many rules,” said Macron to a French newspaper right before the event.

An Act Supported And Criticized During The Event

During the Paris AI Action Summit, members of the European Union’s institutions reinforced their support for the AI Act. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, for example, emphasized the value of having a unified set of rules that apply to all 27 member states rather than multiple regulatory frameworks.

Other participants, such as U.S. Vice President JD Vance, reaffirmed the United States’ stance on these AI regulations, describing them as overly restrictive.

He stated that the U.S. is working on more flexible, less restrictive policies and made it clear that the country has little interest in significant collaboration. This position was underscored by the U.S. decision not to sign the AI Declaration, which was endorsed by 61 other participating nations. The United Kingdom also declined to sign but, unlike the U.S., at least provided an explanation.

Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s CEO, shared a public statement saying that while he appreciated the event, he considered it a “missed opportunity” as more important topics and actions should have been taken, especially regarding AI risks.
“We must ensure democratic societies lead in AI, and that authoritarian countries do not use it to establish global military dominance,” he wrote. “International conversations on AI must more fully address the technology’s growing security risks.

Europe’s Competitiveness Moves One Step Forward

Bringing global attention to Europe—especially France—did help nations, companies, and organizations in the region gain attention and show efforts in AI adoption and innovation.

One of the protagonists of the event was Mistral, the French unicorn competing with companies like OpenAI and DeepSeek with its chatbot and generative AI technology.

Mistral, The Star Guest At The Grand Palais

While Mistral is not as massively adopted worldwide as ChatGPT or DeepSeek—not even in all countries in Europe—during the Summit the startup announced multiple alliances including a partnership with AI defense and drones startup Helsing and Cerebras Systems.

Its AI Chatbot got Macron’s public support at the Paris AI Action Summit. “Go and download Le Chat, which is made by Mistral, rather than ChatGPT by OpenAI — or something else,” said the French president.

The French startup’s CEO, Arthur Mensch, also shared more about the company’s vision and mission at the event. “We’ve gone from a science company that focused on making the strongest models for laptops at the time, to a company that is now providing solutions to enterprises, that is making custom applications, that is bringing knowledge, productivity to workers,” said Mensch.

The promotion worked, as Le Chat surpassed 1 million downloads this week, after launching the app on February 6.

📈 Mistral c’est 1 million de téléchargements de l’app en 14 jours…
go 🇫🇷! #Mistral pic.twitter.com/FkUplthhWA

— Alain GOUDEY (@AlainGoudey) February 19, 2025

 More AI Investment And Data Centers

Mistral’s vision goes further than developing its current AI technology. The startup also wants to invest in data centers to reduce reliance on tech giants’ infrastructures and announced they will invest billions to build their own data center in France.

“It’s a choice we are making to have control over the whole value chain, from the machine to the software,” said Mensch in an interview with TF1.

Before the end of the event, von der Leyen also announced an initiative from the European Union called InvestAI, to mobilize €200 billion for the development of AI technologies and infrastructures, from which €20 will be destined for AI gigafactories.

A Timely Move For Europe

It is clear that while China and the United States remain at the forefront of artificial intelligence technology development, the AI Action Summit allowed European nations and companies to take significant steps toward becoming part of the AI revolution.

There are several factors that the European community could leverage to its advantage: the speed at which AI can advance once it finds an innovation path that accelerates its progress—just as DeepSeek did, dethroning OpenAI from its supremacy in a matter of months—and the slow adoption process of new AI models, which gives the population time to understand how to use these tools to their benefit.

Europe—and France in particular—boasts major companies and unicorns that already rely on AI, such as Karmen, LightOn, and Alan. With new investments in data centers and Mistral’s advancements, the European Union is making the right moves on the playing board.