San Francisco Frontiers - Digital G7 discusses online child protection

Transatlantic ties remain strained over tech policy and other issues ahead of the G7 heads of state meeting in Evian, eastern France from June 15 to 17, making the ministers' job of preparing the agenda more complicated.

Paris was unable to bring the United States aboard a joint declaration at last year's AI summit with 160 other countries.

France's digital minister Anne Le Henanff said as the meeting kicked off that she expected it to produce a statement on child protection by the end of the day.

But Finance Minister Roland Lescure said he expected different points of view on "the challenge of using resources efficiently for AI".

AI firms' growing pursuit of computing capacity is driving demand for energy to power data centres, as well as gobbling up rare raw materials for many of the high-end chips required.

The finance ministry said that even the title of the work area -- "environmental impact of digital technology" -- had proved a "red line" for the American side. It is now called "supporting the resilience and performance of the digital sector".

The detailed results of the talks capping months of negotiations will be unveiled at a Friday afternoon press conference.

Participants will be working on shared language for annexes covering child protection, AI security and governance and diffusing AI through economies -- especially to small and medium firms.

A.Clark--SFF