JD Vance will attend AI summit in Paris and Munich security conference in first overseas trip as VP

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This article was published 04/02/2025 (305 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance will attend a two-day high-level summit focusing on artificial intelligence in Paris next week and the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany in his first scheduled trip abroad since taking office.

The AI Action Summit on Feb. 10-11 will gather heads of state and top government officials, CEOs and other people involved in the tech sector, which has been shaken up by galloping advances. The Munich summit is a regular forum for global international security discussions which has taken on new significance amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and other challenges.

The White House confirmed Vance’s travel after a French diplomatic official said he would attend the Paris summit. It will be his first public foray into foreign policy matters since taking office on Jan. 20, as the new Trump administration promises a return to an “America First” agenda.

It comes as the Trump administration weighs whether to sustain U.S. security and economic assistance to Ukraine, how to constrain the burgeoning partnership between Russia and Iran and contain a more assertive China, all while pursuing a protectionist economic policy that threatens tariffs on friends and foes alike.

China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang is among those expected to attend the summit, which will be co-presided by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The summit will take place at the Grand Palais, last year’s Olympic venue for the fencing and taekwondo competitions. A dinner with top officials and CEOs is also scheduled at the Elysee presidential palace.

Vance’s trip comes after U.S. President Donald Trump last month talked up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. The new entity, Stargate, will start building data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House.

Meanwhile, Chinese AI model DeepSeek’s emergence has shaken up the tech sector, offering companies access to the technology at a fraction of the previous cost and providing the potential to push other AI companies to improve their models and bring down prices.

Vance in the past has acknowledged some harmful AI applications, but said at a July Senate hearing that he worries that concern is justifying “some preemptive overregulation attempts that would frankly entrench the tech incumbents that we already have.”

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Corbet reported from Paris. Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to the report.