Seeking AI boom, France and EU promise to cut red tape on tech

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised that France and the EU will cut back on rep tape to promote AI in the region.

Europe will cut back on regulation to make it easier for artificial intelligence to flourish in the region, French President Emmanuel Macron told an AI summit in Paris on Monday, urging investment in the EU - and more specifically in France. The European Union's digital chief Henna Virkkunen also promised that the bloc will simplify its rules and implement them in a business-friendly way. As U.S. President Donald Trump has torn up his predecessor's AI guardrails to boost U.S. competitiveness, pressure has built on the EU to pursue a lighter-touch approach to AI regulation to help keep European companies in the tech race.

"We will simplify," Macron said. "It's very clear we have to resynchronise with the rest of the world."

Using the example of the gothic Notre-Dame cathedral, which was rebuilt in record time after a devastating fire, thanks to special, simplified regulation, Macron said: "The Notre-Dame approach will be adopted for data centres, for authorisation to go to the market, for AI and attractiveness." After his speech, the Grand Palais venue hosting the summit switched to a nightclub atmosphere with a DJ playing music and the words "let's innovate" and "free yourself" booming from the sound system, while spotlights swirled from a balcony.

Trump's early moves on AI have underscored how far the strategies to regulate AI in the United States, China and EU have diverged.

And many at the two-day summit that started on Monday pushed the EU to soften its own rulebook.

"Europe's productivity is dependent on using this emerging technology," Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said.

Pichai called for ecosystems of AI innovation and adoption like one he said was growing in France. "How do we create more of these pockets in more places?"