Artificial intelligence has always been a battleground.

But this week in Paris, at the AI Action Summit, the fight was not about safety or regulation – it was about money, power, and who gets to lead the future.
For years, AI summits have been dominated by existential concerns.
Will AI take our jobs?
Will it surpass human intelligence?
Will it destroy us?
This summit landed different.
Leaders weren’t here to wring their hands over what-ifs or safety concerns.
They were here to stake their claim.

The numbers are staggering.

France alone announced over $112 billion in private investment for its AI ecosystem.
The European Union is pushing for a €200 billion AI strategy.
And then there’s America, where Trump 2.0’s administration has unleashed the $500 billion Stargate fund, ensuring that the U.S. remains the dominant force in AI infrastructure.
Vice President JD Vance made it clear: The United States is not backing down.
In his speech, he railed against Europe’s AI regulations, calling them excessive and dangerous to innovation.
His message?
America will lead, and deregulation will be the fuel that drives its dominance.

But here’s where things get complicated.

The United States and Britain refused to sign a statement from the summit pledging an “open, inclusive, and ethical” approach to AI.
This wasn’t just a bureaucratic snub – it was a signal.
The focus has shifted from guardrails to growth, from concerns about AI’s dangers to the reality that whoever builds the best AI wins.
And while governments are opening the money cannon, the private sector is moving even faster.
OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, is surging ahead.
Meta is scrambling to keep up with Llama 4.
And Chinese AI companies – like DeepSeek – are proving that cutting-edge AI doesn’t have to be expensive, raising serious questions about how long America’s lead will last.
In private meetings, leaders weren’t debating ethics.
They were asking: How can we build more data centers? How do we get the best talent? How do we own the next wave of AI?

For Canada, the future looks more uncertain.

The country has long been a powerhouse for AI research – think Waterloo, think MILA, think Yoshua Bengio.
But where does that talent go?
To the U.S. or Europe.
Where do Canadian entrepreneurs build?
And who buys them out?
The answer, more often than not, is an American company.

This AI race is accelerating, and countries that aren’t sprinting are already getting left behind.

The AI Action Summit in Paris wasn’t just a conference.
It was a declaration of intent.
Governments and investors are pouring billions into AI’s future.
But as the money flows, one question lingers:
Are we creating a technology that serves humanity, or are we just fighting to see who gets to own it?

The race is on.

This is what Elias Makos and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM. Listen in right here.

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