ALFA Field Note -- From Paris

Good morning and thank you for joining the ALFA Field Note. ALFA is on the ground in Paris, France for the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit, and Vice President Vance is using the stage as his fist foreign trip. It’s obvious why: the race for AI supremacy is at full tilt and America’s leadership is essential for economic, national, and geopolitical security. Read more on the scene from Paris below.

American AI Exceptionalism at the Elysée

Paris, France — The Paris AI Summit on Monday & Tuesday marks a critical inflection point in the global race for AI dominance. While French President Emmanuel Macron hosts world leaders under a banner of "inclusive and sustainable AI," a more consequential debate that was unfolding behind the scenes burst into the open earlier this morning.

The United States, represented by Vice President JD Vance, is taking a dramatically different stance from its European counterparts. The US is parting ways with the summit's primary declaration and is driving the conversation towards getting serious on the issues facing the West.

Key Points:

• Western Primacy — The American delegation asserts that AI dominance must fully remain in the hands of the West. This stands in stark contrast to the summit's multilateral approach, with the US advocating for a more exclusive alliance of Western democratic nations to "deny our rivals' AI ambitions."

• Military Applications — Unlike prior AI summits, the US position explicitly embraces military applications of AI, arguing that hard power has historically secured democracy and free markets. The position calls for increased investment in military AI applications, rejecting any taboo around military use. It appears this call has been heeded by a few countries. Yesterday afternoon the Wall Street Journal reported that France’s AI champion, Mistral has teamed up with German-British company, Helsing to develop AI defense systems.

• Competing Regulatory Approaches — The US is pushing for rapid AI development and deployment, viewing European approaches to governance as weak. Instead, it advocates for working outside traditional channels to forge new spheres of influence.

• The Energy-Sustainability Divide — The stark contrast between US and European approaches is perhaps clearest in their treatment of energy and environmental concerns. While the European declaration emphasizes "Making AI sustainable for people and the planet," the US position focuses on energy as a strategic imperative for AI development. This reflects a fundamental philosophical divide: Europe has a scarcity mindset and sees sustainability as a constraint to be managed, while the US views energy capacity as a strategic imperative.

• Private Sector Alignment — For the first time out in the open, there are calls for frontier AI labs to choose sides in geopolitical competition, arguing there's no room for half-measures or hesitation.

The impact of America's position is already visible in diplomatic alignments. The UK, traditionally bridging European and American perspectives, appears to be distancing itself from the summit's declaration. British Technology Secretary Peter Kyle's careful statements about the US being an "unignorable force" signal growing trans-Atlantic alignment on AI policy.

This summit marks a material turning point in the broad international consensus on AI governance. And so, in the words of our Vice President, “we must focus now on the opportunity to catch lightning in a bottle, unleash our most brilliant innovators and use AI to improve the well being of our nations and their peoples.”

Early key metrics to watch will be concrete commitments on energy infrastructure and data center development which are the driving determinants of future AI capability. With France’s announced AI ambitions despite their sustainability commitments, China’s expansion of its coal and nuclear power generation, and the US pushing for our own renaissance in energy development, the real race will be about power generation as much as AI innovation.

AI’s Place in the Stars

DeepSeek’s launch into the world has spawned policy conversations and considerations reminiscent to the original Sputnik moment. For many, this AI development provides a clear sign that China’s advanced technology sectors present real risk and competition to America’s interests at home and on the world stage. But this should serve as a warning that spans beyond just AI and to other critical technologies such as space capabilities that will leverage AI in their deployments. 

China has had its sights set on expanding its footprint in space for some time. They’ve succeeded in rapidly expanding and advancing their space technologies on several fronts according to US Space Command. They have fielded hundreds of satellites for communications and intelligence purposes, developed counter-space weapons to deny US space assets, and are expanding space exploration with its “Heavenly Palace” space station. It’s no question that China’s technological advancements extend beyond AI and and into space tech. 

Like DeepSeek, though, their work is not borne solely on the backs of homegrown innovation. Instead, they’ve worked hard to gather intellectual property and intelligence on US developments at scale. NASA’s administrator accused the Chinese Communist Party of stealing vital space technologies in congressional testimony in 2022 and Air Force officials have noted that efforts to steal intellectual property have extended beyond our government agencies and include attempts to target American businesses in the space industry.  

This should hasten our commitment to secure our leadership in space, provided claims China has achieved high performance with much lower computational costs than competitor models. Taken at face value, that upside is an advantage to any future space AI applications since space naturally constrains computational resources onboard the craft. Even beyond technical upsides, DeepSeek is a categorical reminder that technological advancement is primarily a function of focused innovation and invested capital in that innovation. 

Now US policymakers and industry leaders must answer this opportunity to maintain our advantage over the competition with American ingenuity and dedicated work. First, agencies and companies alike must be vigilant in their vetting and cybersecurity procedures. We must ensure that American IP isn’t an easy target for theft. Reviewing and modernizing our internal technical practices to ensure physical and cyber security is crucial to ensuring American success and slowing leaks. 

Additionally, we must adopt the same fervor and commitment to success that the US, NASA, and American industry leaders exemplified in the 1960s. Leaders can modernize regulation to increase space technology development pacing, ensure future-capabilities development in civilian and defense agencies, and bring an all-hands-on-deck attitude to this front.

America can continue to lead space development if we act with decisiveness and the entrepreneurial spirit that has delivered us success so far. 

Thank you for reading and have a great day!

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