Two major artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives have been launched at the AI Action Summit in Paris, focused on promoting sustainable and “public-interest” applications of the technology.
The first is Current AI, a public interest foundation launched by French president Emmanuel Macron that seeks to steer the development of the technology in more socially beneficial directions.
Backed by nine governments – including Finland, France, Germany, Chile, India, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Slovenia and Switzerland – as well as an assortment of philanthropic bodies and private companies (including Google and Salesforce, which are listed as “core partners”), the initiative aims to “reshape” the AI landscape by expanding access to high-quality datasets; investing in open-source tooling and infrastructure to improve transparency around AI; and measuring its social and environmental impact.
Key focus areas for the initiative will include healthcare, linguistic diversity, science, and issues such as trust, safety and AI auditing. “Current AI can change the world of AI,” said Macron. “By giving access to data, infrastructures and computing power to a large number of partners, Current AI will contribute to developing our own AI ecosystems in France and Europe, to diversifying the market, and to fostering innovation throughout the world, in a fair and transparent way.”
The second initiative launched is the Coalition for Environmentally Sustainable AI, which aims to bring together “stakeholders across the AI value chain for dialogue and ambitious collaborative initiatives”.
Consisting of 91 partners so far – including 37 tech firms, 11 countries and five international organisations – the coalition will be spearheaded by France, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
“I want to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence in Norway,” said Norwegian minister of digitalisation Karianne Tung. “It will increase workforce availability, create new jobs, and help address societal challenges. At the same time, we know that AI requires a lot of energy. It is therefore important that countries work together to make technology more sustainable.”
Maintaining momentum
According to a statement on the coalition’s website, its primary goal is “to make sure that the momentum will be continued for future events (AI Summits, COP and other international gatherings), with other national authorities and international organisations”.
“This coalition serves as a platform to identify stakeholders committed to the topic, and as a hub for giving visibility to open-ended, collaborative international initiatives pursuing the advance of science, standards and solutions for aligning AI and environmental goals,” it says.
Current AI founder Martin Tisné – who was a key organiser of the AI Action Summit – said the goal of creating the public interest foundation is to create a financial vehicle “to provide a North Star for public financing of critical efforts”, such as using AI in a range of healthcare contexts.
“We have a critical window to shape the future of artificial intelligence,” Tisné said in a statement. “AI has the power to transform access to jobs, healthcare and education for the better, but only if we act now. Current AI will drive a shift towards open, people-first technologies.
“We’ve seen the harms of unchecked tech development and the transformative potential it holds when aligned with the public interest. By supporting innovation that benefits all, we can ensure AI serves the public good.”
The initiative is currently backed by a $400m investment from the French government, philanthropists and industry partners, and will aim to raise a total of $2.5bn over the next five years.
Speaking during the summit, United Nations secretary general António Guterres urged international collaboration on AI to ensure the technology expediates sustainable development, rather than contribute to entrenching global inequality.
“The power of AI carries immense responsibilities,” he said. “Today, that power sits in the hands of a few. While some companies and some countries are racing ahead with record investments, most developing nations find themselves left out in the cold. This growing concentration of AI capabilities risks deepening geopolitical divides.
“We must prevent a world of AI ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. We must all work together so that artificial intelligence can bridge the gap between developed and developing countries – not widen it. It must accelerate sustainable development – not entrench inequalities.”
Guterres added that the launch of Current AI “is an important contribution” to global AI capacity building, noting that his office will soon present a report on “innovative voluntary financing models and capacity-building initiatives to help all countries harness AI as a force for good”.
Commenting on the turn to open source infrastructure, Mitchell Baker, chair of the Mozilla Foundation, said it was a positive move. “Just over a year ago at Bletchley Park, open source AI was framed as a risk,” she said. “In Paris, we saw a major shift. There is now a growing recognition that openness isn’t just compatible with AI safety and advancing public-interest AI – it’s essential to it.”
Baker added that it’s clear “we need infrastructure beyond private, purely profit-driven AI. That means building AI that serves society and promotes true innovation even when it doesn’t fit neatly into short-term business incentives. The conversations in Paris show that we’re making progress, but there’s more work to do.”
Funding
Mike Bracken, a founding partner at digital transformation consultancy Public Digital, described the public-interest focus of Current AI as a “really strong outcome” of the summit, and said it’s important the body already has a budget.
“It’s got a mandate, it’s got funding,” he said. “It’s got a substantial number of funders from governments, NGOs, philanthropic organisations and individual countries, so people are putting their hands in their pockets.
“We’ve got loads of institutions that do ethics committees, think tanks and societies for this and that, but public institutions that act globally to create public AI assets that can change people’s lives? We haven’t had one of those before. That’s big news.”
