Yet such worries were pushed to the back burner as the U.S., in particular, made a forceful argument against moves to regulate the sector, with Vance saying that the Trump Administration “cannot and will not” accept foreign governments “tightening the screws on U.S. tech companies.”

Europe has been at the forefront of shaping regulation of AI technologies, with critics often accusing the EU of going in "too heavily, to the detriment of innovation", said CNBC. But now, led by France, it is aiming to be "part of the conversation around AI leadership and innovation that has so far been dominated by the US and China".