Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday passionately endorsed artificial intelligence, saying the budding technology will “never replace humans” but instead help Americans and people around the world thrive.
“AI, we believe, is going to make us more productive, more prosperous and more free,” Vance said.
The vice president made his comment in a speech at the AI Action Summit in Paris, marking his first international trip since he and President Donald Trump were sworn in last month. Vance also called on world leaders to follow the U.S. in making sure AI is not used for “policing so-called misinformation” or other forms of censorship, saying it should rather be used to help workers unlock new opportunities.
“American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship,” he told the summit-goers, which included French President Emmanuel Macron.
“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 fosters the creation of AI technology rather than strangles it,” Vance said. “And we need our European friends in particular to look to this new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation.”
Vance’s pro-AI comments come a few weeks after many of tech’s biggest CEOs and founders — including X owner Elon Musk, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — were on hand for President Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C.
A few days later, the president signed an executive order calling for the removal of “barriers to American leadership” in AI.
“The United States has long been at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) innovation, driven by the strength of our free markets, world-class research institutions and entrepreneurial spirit,” Trump wrote. “To maintain this leadership, we must develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas.”
Vance reiterated the Trump Administration’s stance on Tuesday, saying that if AI tools are going to be useful, they must remain bias-free. He then pointed to Google’s Gemini AI model making George Washington into a Black man, among other ahistorical images it generated, as an example of this being an issue.
He added that countries need to follow in the United States’ footsteps and foster an environment that is favorable to AI development.
“The future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about AI safety. It will be won by building,” Vance said.
