AI CEOs joined world leaders at the G7 summit in France this week, highlighting the growing role of private technology firms in global security and governance.
The meeting brought together leaders of major AI companies and heads of state. The setting underscored how governments now view advanced AI as economic and security infrastructure.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sat near US President Donald Trump. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei also joined the summit discussions.
Altman held bilateral meetings with several leaders. He told them that governments should not give up their responsibilities to AI labs. “No single lab should be making the decisions,” Altman said in closed-door remarks confirmed by Axios.
Amodei urged G7 leaders to “resist the temptation to splinter” as democracies roll out advanced AI tools. He framed the issue as a contest between democratic and authoritarian systems. Altman also called for an international forum to set accepted testing standards, assess AI risks and support cooperation among nations.
Hassabis said governments should create a US-led standards body that works closely with democratic allies. He described the current moment as one of the most critical in human history. French President Emmanuel Macron hosted the summit in the French Alps.
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Axios reported that AI executives also included Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch.
The official 2026 G7 summit agenda outcomes from the Évian-les-Bains summit, with direct links mapping each topic to the respective government or multilateral agency responsible for implementing it.
