Contact: comms@encodeai.org
Encode Urges True Cooperation on AI Governance In Light of “Missed Opportunity” at Paris Summit
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After a long-awaited convening of world leaders to discuss the perils and possibilities of AI, following up on the inaugural Global AI Safety Summit hosted by the United Kingdom in 2023, the verdict is in: despite the exponential pace of AI progress, serious discussions reckoning with the societal impacts of advanced AI were off the agenda. At Encode, a youth-led organization advocating for a human-centered AI future, we were deeply alarmed by the conspicuous erasure of safety risks from the summit’s final agreement, ultimately bucked by both the U.S. and U.K. It was certainly exciting to see leaders like U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance acknowledge AI’s enormous upside in historic remarks. But what we needed from this moment was enforceable commitments to responsible AI innovation that guard against the risks, too; what we’re walking away with, however, falls far short of that.
“I was happy to be able to represent Encode in Paris during the AI Action Summit — the events this week brought together so many people from around the world to grapple with both the benefits and dangers of AI,” said Nathan Calvin, Encode’s General Counsel and VP of State Affairs. “However, I couldn’t help but feel like this summit’s tone felt fundamentally out of touch with just how fast AI progress is moving and how unprepared societies are for what’s coming on the near horizon. In fact, the experts authoring the AI Action Summit’s International AI Safety Report had to note multiple times that important advances in AI capabilities occurred in just the short time between when the report was written in December 2024 and when it was published in January 2025.”
“Enthusiasm to seize and understand rather than fear these challenges is commendable, but world leaders must also be honest and clear-eyed about the risks and get ahead of them before they eclipse the potential of this transformative technology. It’s hard not to feel like this summit was a missed opportunity for the global community to have the conversations necessary to ensure AI advancement fulfills its incredible promise.”
About Encode: Encode is the leading global youth voice advocating for guardrails to support human-centered AI innovation. In spring 2024, Encode released AI 2030, a platform of 22 recommendations to world leaders to secure the future of AI and confront disinformation, minimize global catastrophic risk, address labor impacts, and more by the year 2030.
