Evian (France) (AFP) – G7 leaders will discuss on Wednesday the security risks posed by AI and social media on the last day of a summit dominated by Donald Trump, before host French President Emmanuel Macron dines with his US counterpart at the Palace of Versailles. The three-day summit of the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, and the United States has focused intensely on Trump’s deal to end the war with Iran and efforts to pressure Russia into brokering peace with Ukraine.
But on Wednesday the digital sphere will take centre stage, with some European G7 members wanting more security in moves that have irked the United States. Sam Altman, the head of artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, Anthropic chief Dario Amodei, and Arthur Mensch of their European rival Mistral AI will attend lunch with the leaders. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday that children under 16 will be banned from using social media in the UK, with France also eyeing a similar ban. The discussion at the G7 will focus on how to “improve cyber security and protect our children and our democracies,” Macron said in an Instagram video ahead of the summit.
Final discussions on the key global issues will take place, with all seven powers hoping to agree on final statements on both the Middle East and Ukraine before the leaders give separate press conferences from around 1300 GMT.
– ‘Real deal’ –
Trump has been the centre of attention throughout his stay at the summit in the lakeside resort of Evian. French officials will be satisfied that the mercurial US president has stayed for the entire event — in contrast to the previous gathering in Canada where he left early. In an unusual gesture, Macron has invited Trump to dinner at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris after the summit winds down on Wednesday afternoon.
Trump said Tuesday he had accepted Macron’s offer of dinner at Versailles as the palace of the French Sun King Louis XIV is “not gold leaf” but the “real deal.” Macron, under pressure to show he is not fawning over Trump, has already insisted the evening at Versailles will not be a “gala” dinner.
Iran remains a key topic at the summit, with allies eager to question Trump over his deal with the Islamic republic to end the Middle East war, which is due to be signed in Switzerland on Friday. Trump said the United States was under “no obligation” to invest in Iran after the deal, adding that its main focus was that Iran would not acquire a nuclear weapon and that “all hell” would “rain down” on the country if it did.
On Ukraine, Trump has moved to a more hostile stance against Moscow, saying Russia should “make a deal” and indicating Washington could re-impose waived sanctions. He has also adopted a more critical tone against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon,” he said, adding Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah there had taken “too long.”
© 2024 AFP
