US VP Vance Calls for Less Regulation at AI Action Summit

Europe must view developments in artificial intelligence with optimism, rather than trepidation, U.S. Vice President JD Vance told EU leaders during the AI Action Summit.

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Vance told the group assembled for the Paris AI Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday that the EU’s tendency to overregulate technology is costing American businesses billions of dollars. He said a top priority for the newly elected Trump administration is to ensure that U.S. AI technologies “continue to be the gold standard worldwide.”

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

Vance complained that European regulations such as the Digital Services Act and the General Data Protection Regulation mean “paying endless legal compliance costs” or risk “massive fines” for companies. “For some, the easiest way to avoid the dilemma has been to simply block EU users in the first place,” Vance said.

Comparing AI to the Industrial Revolution, Vance said the future of the technology can’t be won by focusing solely on safety. The U.S. strategy of “preserving an open regulatory environment” has resulted in investments of $700 billion in AI research and development, he said. The White House recently announced Stargate, a $500 billion AI infrastructure project with OpenAI and other tech giants (See: Trump-Backed Stargate Initiative to Pour $500B Into AI).

On Tuesday, the U.S. and the U.K. reportedly declined to sign a peace declaration unveiled at the event that calls for “inclusive and sustainable” AI development.

Concerns about overregulation have been raised by American big tech companies in the wake of the EU’s adoption of its first-ever binding regulation, the EU AI Act. The regulation imposes strict transparency requirements for generative AI such as disclosing compliance with the GDPR and copyrights law. Non-compliance can invoke a fine of 7% of the organization’s annual turnover (See: EU AI Act Enters Into Force).

Meta and Apple are among the leading American companies that have delayed the rollout of their products in the EU, fearing regulatory setbacks.

Speaking at the event, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the focus of the EU AI Act is to ensure uniform rules for technology across the trading bloc.

“We want AI developers to compete based on how innovative they are, not just on their access to chips or the size of their financial firepower,” von der Leyen said. But she added that the EU needs to cut bureaucratic red tape, as well as make access to computation power easier.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said the success of AI will depend on building trust in AI systems not just through regulations.

“What is needed for establishing a climate of trust is, first, you need to have fair and open access,” Macron said, adding that companies and governments need to work together to ensure access to quality data, as well as ensure transparency.

“We are in a world where data is so open and we can accelerate innovation, but there has to be proper protection of privacy,” Macron said.