🤖 AI Policy this week #045. AI Action Summit shows divergent policy paths; Colombia approves its policy roadmap Conpes.

A quick summary of news, reports and events discussing the present and future of AI and the governance framework around its development.

The AI Action Summit in Paris left big announcements, declarations and a clear divergent policy path, at least, between the EU on one side, and the US + the UK on the other. Still, the EU Commission withdrew the AI Liability Directive Proposals due to lack of agreements, showing the gap may get narrower against a hard regulatory approach. What’s left for the rest of the world? Colombia just greenlighted its National Policy document Conpes on AI as a roadmap until 2030.

1. News

Paris AI Action Summit declaration seeks to establish a “human-centric, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy” approach; US and UK refuse to sign.
The international agreement was signed by 61 countries, including Canada, China, Australia, India and Japan, as well as the European Union and the African Union Commission. In a brief statement, the UK government said it had not been able to add its name to it because of concerns about national security and "global governance." Earlier, US Vice President JD Vance told delegates in Paris that too much regulation of AI could "kill a transformative industry just as it's taking off". "We need these rules for AI to move forward," Macron said at the summit.

EU launches InvestAI initiative to mobilise €200 billion of investment in AI.
At the AI Action Summit in Paris, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen launched InvestAI, an initiative to mobilise €200 billion for investment in AI, including a new European fund of €20 billion for AI gigafactories. “This large AI infrastructure is needed to allow open, collaborative development of the most complex AI models and to make Europe an AI continent”, the press release reads. Von der Leyen said: “AI will improve our healthcare, spur our research and innovation and boost our competitiveness. We want AI to be a force for good and for growth. We are doing this through our own European approach – based on openness, cooperation and excellent talent. But our approach still needs to be supercharged. This is why, together with our Member States and with our partners, we will mobilise unprecedented capital through InvestAI for European AI gigafactories”.

Excessive regulation could ‘kill’ AI industry, US VP JD Vance tells at Paris summit.

The United States believes that overzealous rulemaking could “kill” the artificial intelligence industry, US Vice President JD Vance said. “We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off,” Vance told heads of state and CEOs gathered in Paris for the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit. “And I’d like to see that deregulatory flavor making its way into a lot of the conversations (at) this conference. “I’m not here this morning to talk about AI safety,” Vance said. “I’m here to talk about AI opportunity.”

Second India-France AI Policy Roundtable Advances Collaborative AI Governance and Innovation.
Held as part of the AI Action Summit 2025, focused on collaborative AI governance and innovation. Indian and French policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders discussed strategic priorities, including responsible AI development, data interoperability, and international collaboration. The two-day event was co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A result of the high-level meeting was theStatement on Inclusive and Sustainable AI focuses on sustainability, digital public goods, cooperation on governance and open AI models.

European Commission Withdraws ePrivacy Regulation and AI Liability Directive Proposals.
The European Commission made available its 2025 work program (the “Work Program”). The Work Program sets out the key strategies, action plans and legislative initiatives to be pursued by the European Commission. As part of the Work Program, the European Commission announced that it plans to withdraw its proposals for a newePrivacy Regulation (aimed at replacing the current ePrivacy Directive) andAI Liability Directive (aimed at complementing the newProduct Liability Directive) due to lack of a consensus for their adoption. The withdrawal means that the current ePrivacy Directive and its national transposition laws will remain in force and postpones the regulation of non-contractual liability for damages arising from the use of AI at the EU level. "No foreseeable agreement — the Commission will assess whether another proposal should be tabled or another type of approach should be chosen," the Commission explained in the program's annex.

Colombian Government approves the Conpes on AI (National Policy document) as a roadmap to boost technological development until 2030.
The document establishes the roadmap for the implementation and regulation of AI with a focus on social, economic and environmental transformation. The policy envisages an investment of 479 billion pesos and seeks to strengthen digital infrastructure. According to Alexander López Maya, former director of the National Planning Department (DNP): ‘This Conpes is a comprehensive strategy that will allow Colombia to take advantage of the opportunities offered by AI while mitigating potential risks’.

Scale AI CEO meets with UK prime minister.
Scale AI CEO and founder Alexandr Wang and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met this week to discuss global cooperation around artificial intelligence, a source familiar told Axios. Wang and Starmer discussed building a coalition of western-aligned and allied nations to establish a global standard for AI.

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2. Reports, Briefs and Opinion Pieces:

“Forging Global Cooperation on AI Risks: Cyber Policy as a Governance Blueprint”, by the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace.
The report highlights how AI accelerates cyber threats while also enhancing cyber defenses. It proposes a five-step methodology to assess governance needs, emphasizing transparency, cooperation, and accountability.

Statement from Dario Amodei [Anthropic] on the Paris AI Action Summit.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei sounded the alarm on three critical areas of AI policy that he said demand immediate attention: ensuring democratic leadership in AI, tackling security risks and managing economic disruption.

“Paris AI Summit misses opportunity for global AI governance”, comment by professors from the University of Oxford's Institute for Ethics in AI.
John Tasioulas, Professor of Ethics and Legal Philosophy, Ignacio Cofone, Professor of Law and Regulation of AI, and Dr Caroline Green, Director of Research, discuss this month's Paris AI Summit which aimed to find a shared direction for the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI).

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3. Events:

FTI Expo 2025 (Feb 12-15, Bangkok, Thailand).
The Thai government is drafting the country's first law on artificial intelligence (AI), aiming to adopt and regulate AI technology to strengthen businesses and the economy, said Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

1st Regional Policy Convening of AI Ready ASEAN (Feb 12, Jakarta, Indonesia).
Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Stella Christie, has asked ASEAN to design an education policy on the use of artificial intelligence (AI). "Responding to the development of artificial intelligence, ASEAN needs to design an education policy related to the aspects of readiness and responsibility in the implementation of AI," she said.

AI Action Summit (Feb 10-11, Paris, France).
Following last week’s open question, and as summarized in the previous sections, it did not set a unified approach to AI governance, but rather explicit the divergent paths.

Thanks for reading, please share any comments and see you next week.