JD Vance’s appalling speech at the Paris Artificial Intelligence Summit announcing that the US will not agree to minimal international safety standards or consumer protections was not surprising given the Trump administration’s deregulatory fervor and fervent billionaire support.   But with lucrative government contracts hanging in the balance, two of those billionaires are feuding.  Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI, recently said no to Elon Musk’s offer of $97.4 billion to purchase his company.  Musk also heard no from 21 technology workers at DOGE, formerly the US Digital Service, who quit their jobs saying they refused to use their skills to “dismantle critical public services.”

JD Vance’s debut on the world stage put the US squarely at odds with the majority of the 100 countries that attended the Paris summit.  His announcement wasn’t unexpected but was still greeted with alarm.  Signatories to the Summit’s Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable AI, included Canada, the European Commission, India and China.  The Statement is mostly one of principles, including “ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy, taking into account international frameworks for all” and “making AI sustainable for people and the planet”.

“We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off,” Vance stated, urging the other representatives likewise to reject the document.  The United Kingdom did so, insisting its rejection of the Statement was completely independent of Vance’s.

The US has mostly appeared to be the dominant country in AI, but China is poised to overtake it with the global launch of DeepSeek, an AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT but based on a cheaper and more efficient AI model.  Chinese companies are seeking a surge in investor interest while the bump Trump’s election initially created for Internet-related stocks and bitcoin here in the US is cooling.

A Battle of Billionaires

Who better to take on China than Trump’s buddy Elon Musk?  Despite his many responsibilities at DOGE, Tesla, SpaceX, and Tesla, Musk recently offered to buy Open AI for $97.4 billion.  Musk was among a handful of co-founders of Open AI in 2015 and claims to have invested $45 million in the company. But he and current CEO Altman had a falling out, with much of their animosity being aired publicly on social media and in court. His numerous suits against the company prompted US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rodriguez to call his disputes with Open AI a battle of  “billionaires versus billionaires.”

I feel for the guy,” said Altman, who, like most tech billionaires, switched his allegiance from the democratic party to Trump last fall, but hasn’t changed his tune on Musk.  “I don’t think he’s, like, a happy person.”

Engagement Resources