Vice President Vance slammed “excessive regulation” of artificial intelligence (AI) on Tuesday, making clear the Trump administration’s stance on the emerging tech on an international stage.
“We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off,” Vance said Tuesday in Paris at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit. “And I’d like to see that deregulatory flavor making a lot of the conversations this conference.”
The speech built upon a series of executive actions President Trump took shortly after his inauguration last month, including the repeal of former President Biden’s 2023 executive order that placed guardrails on AI innovation. He quickly signed an executive order to roll back any policies that “act as barriers to American AI innovation.”
Coupled with Vance’s remarks, the Trump administration is signaling a growing disagreement with Europe over how to handle the emerging tech.
Questions have long swirled over how the U.S. should balance AI innovation and regulation.
The Trump administration has so far prioritized AI innovation in a more hands-off approach, contrasting with Europe, which has largely tightened regulations over safety and responsibility concerns.
“The Trump administration believes that AI will have countless revolutionary applications and economic innovation, job creation, national security, health care, free expression and beyond,” Vance said. “And to restrict its development now will not only unfairly benefit incumbents in the space, it would mean paralyzing one of the most promising technologies that we have seen in generations.”
The vice president emphasized the U.S. intends to be the leader in AI innovation and will do so on a “pro worker growth path” amid concerns the technology will reduce job availability and value.
“Too many of the leaders in the AI industry when they talk about this fear of replacing workers, I think they really miss the point,” Vance said. “AI, we believe, is going to make us more productive, more prosperous and more free. The United States of America is the leader in AI, and our administration plans to keep it that way.”
He added the Trump administration is working to ensure AI systems are built in the U.S. with American designed and manufactured chips as it seeks to curb foreign competition.
“Just because we’re the leader doesn’t mean we want or need to go it alone, of course,” he said, adding, “America wants to partner with all of you. We want to embark on the AI revolution before us with the spirit of openness and collaboration but to create that kind of trust, we need international regulatory regimes that foster the creation of AI technology rather than strangles it.”
The U.S. was not part of a joint statement signed by more than 60 nations, which pledged to “promote AI accessibility to reduce digital divides” and “ensure AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy.”
Vance noted it does not mean “safety [goes] out the window,” but that countries must focus on harnessing the opportunity.
