PARIS, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- France will host the AI Action Summit in Paris from Monday to Tuesday to gauge the leap forward of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

The summit, focusing on five major themes -- Public Interest AI, Future of Work, Innovation and Culture, Trust in AI and Global AI Governance -- is expected to bring together almost 100 countries and over 1,000 representatives from the private sector and civil society worldwide.

Here's what to know about the AI Action Summit, and why it has attracted so much attention:

WHAT IS THE SUMMIT ABOUT?

On the first day of the summit, a forum will bring together many stakeholders across the world to discuss the five major themes, to be followed by a summit of heads of state and government on the next day.

On the margins of the summit, a Business Day at France's biggest startup camp Station F will also take place with participants from businesses and companies of all sizes, financial institutions, and investors.

France has also planned an AI Action Week that lasts from Feb. 6 to 11 to allow the participation of AI-related professionals, and an AI Culture weekend has just been held by the French ministry of culture for the general public.

According to the organizers, all the discussions at the summit and related events will seek to achieve three major objectives: to make AI safe, reliable, and available to everyone; to develop AI that is better for the environment; and to develop fair and effective global AI policies.

The organizers are also looking for a political declaration, calling for commitment to more ethical, democratic and environmentally sustainable AI, according to the French President's office.

"We now have this incredible opportunity to figure out not only how we should mitigate the potential harms from artificial intelligence, but also how we can ensure that it's used to improve people's lives," said Martin Tisne, the summit's envoy for public-interest AI.

WHAT IS THE HOST COUNTRY'S AI AMBITION?

France may take the summit as an opportunity to promote the European Artificial Intelligence Act, which officially entered into force last year, in a bid to gain a place for France and Europe in global AI governance.

President Emmanuel Macron first proposed France's AI strategy in 2018. The ongoing AI summit is also an occasion for France to lead Europe in the highly intense AI competition around the world.

For Macron, AI is a way to recreate competitiveness and productivity for French industries, to create new sectors, and to rethink time and work organization.

Macron also expressed the will to make France a champion of AI development in Europe. "France is the leading country in Europe in terms of artificial intelligence," Macron said, adding that his country would train up to 100,000 AI researchers by 2030.

Worrying about being left behind in the global AI race, France wants to have a strong voice in the regulation of AI and become a policy-maker instead of a follower.

According to Le Monde daily, the application of AI could boost France's GDP by 0.8-1.3 percentage points a year by 2034, almost double the current growth figure.

On paper, AI represents a lever capable of lifting France's economy out of its sluggish state, with growth not expected to exceed 0.8 percent in 2025, Le Monde added.

WHAT IS THE CURRENT GLOBAL AI SITUATION?

There has been consistent tension between the United States and Europe in the tech field due to the latter's antitrust actions against U.S.-based Big Tech firms like Google, Apple, and Meta.

U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the European Union (EU) at last month's World Economic Forum, calling the multibillion-dollar fines a tax on American businesses.

More recently, the EU's proposed regulations on AI have faced pushback from these U.S. companies. The EU introduced a non-binding "code of practice" as part of its AI Act. But Meta's top lobbyist stated that the company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, will not sign on.

Meanwhile, China's DeepSeek coming into the world last month has stirred up the global AI industry. DeepSeek built its powerful open-source AI model at a low cost with fewer chips, which Trump said was a "wake-up call" for the U.S. tech industry.

Analysts said the rise of DeepSeek also puts China's interests in line with France's.

"DeepSeek is being seen as a kind of vindication of this idea that you don't have to necessarily invest hundreds of billions of dollars in chips and data centers," said Nick Reiners, senior geotechnology analyst at the Eurasia Group, quoted by the Associated Press.

French organizers said the AI Action Summit aims to promote an ambitious French and European AI strategy as advances in the sector have been led by the U.S. and China. Enditem

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