by Editor BGF | Feb 16, 2025 | Global Alliance for Digital Governance
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, and friends across five continents,
Today, we gather at a pivotal moment in history at the AI Action Summit Paris. A moment where the choices we make will not only define the future of artificial intelligence but will shape the very fabric of our societies, our economies, and our democracies.
AI is not just a tool. It is a force—one that can either deepen inequalities or bridge them, either automate exclusion or create opportunities, either strip away our humanity or amplify it. The path we choose is not inevitable. It is ours to define.
I am honored to be here today, as the representative of the Boston Global Forum (BGF) for France and the African continent, an institution dedicated to forging global leadership, peace, and security through dialogue and action.
I extend my deepest gratitude to Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, co-Founder and co-Chair of the Boston Global Forum whose vision has brought us together in this space of reflection and transformation and to the organizers of this AI Action Summit event at the Fondation de l’Ecole normale supérieure.
We also take this opportunity to present a document that pays tribute to President Emmanuel Macron and the people of France—a nation whose history is a testament to the power of ideas, innovation, and human progress.
This initiative, “Creating a New Paris of Enlightenment,” envisions France stepping forward as a global leader in the AI Age, driving innovation that is deeply rooted in human values, ethics, and progress for all.
Why invoke the Enlightenment? Because history has shown us that technological revolutions are meaningless without human progress. The Age of Enlightenment challenged dogma, democratized knowledge, and laid the foundations for modern society. Today, AI has the same potential—but only if we steer it with wisdom, courage, and inclusivity.
The Boston global forum is working for an AI that creates a fair, Inclusive, and Sustainable Future Because AI must serve humanity, not just power or profit. It’s a question of justice, trust, and shared prosperity. The future of AI must be built on principles that ensure technology empowers people, strengthens societies, and safeguards our planet.
To achieve this, we need strong governance, ethical innovation, and global collaboration.
We have worked on 9 fundamental principles to address these challenges:
- Governance & Accountability – A New Social Contract for AI and a Global Digital Governance Alliance to ensure fairness, transparency, and responsibility.
- AI for Smarter Societies – AIWS Government 24/7 for efficient, citizen-focused governance, and AIWS University to train ethical AI leaders.
- Equity & Inclusion – AI must empower all, not exclude. Gender inclusivity must be embedded at every level.
- AI for Well-Being – Transforming healthcare, education, and industry to improve lives.
- AI for Sustainability – A key tool to combat climate change, optimize energy, and drive sustainability.
- France Leading the AI Age – Not just a participant, but a global leader in ethical, human-centered AI.
This is not just a roadmap for France—it’s a global call to action. The future of AI is ours to shape. The time to act is now.
The real question before us today is not whether AI will shape our future. It is how we will shape AI.
Will it reinforce the divisions of the past, or will it forge new bridges of collaboration?
Will it be a weapon of control, or a catalyst for freedom and human dignity?
Will it replace humanity, or will it elevate what makes us human?
We have the minds, the vision, and the responsibility to answer these questions. So let us not just discuss the future. Let us design it. Together.
Thank you. I am now going to handover to Mr. Tuan Nguyen, CEO of the Boston Global Forum.
Thank you.
by Editor BGF | Feb 16, 2025 | Papers & Reports, Publications
Hon. Mark R. Kennedy, Director of the Wilson Center’s Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition
Speech delivered on February 11, 2025, at the Boston Global Forum’s “Government 24/7: How Al Might Best Transform Governance” event as part of the Al Action Summit in Paris, France
Download Speech here
by Editor BGF | Feb 12, 2025 | News
February 11, 2025
The Boston Global Forum (BGF) is proud to announce that the recipient of the 2025 World Leader in AI World Society (AIWS) Award is Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador-at-Large and 1st Digital Minister (2016-2024). This prestigious award recognizes Tang’s remarkable contributions to advancing AI governance, innovation, and ethical applications that promote societal progress.
To honor Audrey Tang, BGF will organize a special Award Ceremony on April 22, 2025, at Harvard University’s Loeb House. This event will celebrate Tang’s exceptional leadership in shaping AI policies and fostering an inclusive, responsible, and innovative AI-driven world.
Each year, the Boston Global Forum presents two esteemed awards:
- World Leader for Peace and Security Award – Given to Heads of State, Governments, and International Organizations for their outstanding efforts in promoting global peace and security.
- World Leader in AI World Society (AIWS) Award – Conferred upon distinguished innovators and policymakers in AI who lead transformative advancements in AI governance and its application for social good.
The 2025 AIWS Award reflects BGF’s commitment to recognizing visionary leaders shaping the future of AI with responsibility, innovation, and ethical governance.
For more details on the award ceremony and Audrey Tang’s achievements, please visit BostonGlobalForum.org.
Media Contact:
Ramu Damodaran, BGF Executive Board Member
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.bostonglobalforum.org
by Editor BGF | Feb 9, 2025 | AI Action Summit, News
This pivotal session at the AI Action Summit Paris 2025 will explore the transformative potential of AIWS Government 24/7, a pioneering model designed to modernize governance with AI-driven, seamless public services operating 24/7. It will also introduce the “Creating a New Paris of Enlightenment” program, positioning France as a beacon of the AI Age—excelling in AI technology, economy, governance, and society while reviving its historical brilliance with a New Paris of Enlightenment.
Keynotes:
- “AIWS Government 24/7 and A New Paris of Enlightenment”
- “Creating A New Paris of Enlightenment”
- “Contribution of Enlightenment in Action Alliance (EAA) to AI Action Summit”
As a special tribute to President Emmanuel Macron and the people of France, “Creating A New Paris of Enlightenment” will position France as a global leader in the AI Age, reinforcing its commitment to technological advancement, ethical AI governance, and socio-economic progress.
Speakers:
- Mark Kennedy, Director, Wilson Center’s Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition
- Alex Pentland, MIT and Stanford Professor, Director of the MIT Connection Science
- Sharad Sharma, Co-founder of iSPIRT Foundation
- Nazli Choucri, MIT Professor of Political Science
- Thomas Patterson, Harvard Professor of Government and the Press
- Nguyen Anh Tuan, Co-founder, Co-chair, and CEO of Boston Global Forum
- Elisabeth Moreno, Former French Minister for Gender Equality, Diversity, and Equal Opportunities
- Yasuhide Nakayama, Former Japanese State Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs
- Pedro Fernandes Lopes, Secretary of State for the Digital Economy, Cabo Verde
- Jean-Marc YACE, Mayor of Cocody City, Ivory Coast
- Yi-Jing Lin, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs, Taiwan
- Sarosh Nagar, Harvard & University College London (UCL), Enlightenment in Action Alliance (EAA)
Time: 15:30 – 17:00, February 11, 2025, Paris time.
Venue: Salle des Actes
ENS, Paris PSL, 45 Rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris, France
Co-Chair and CEO of BGF Nguyen Anh Tuan and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau at AI Action Summit
by Editor BGF | Feb 9, 2025 | News
A federal judge paused the Trump administration’s efforts to drastically scale back the U.S. Agency for International Development, temporarily halting plans to put 2,200 employees on leave by midnight on Friday.
Shortly before those plans were set to take effect, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, issued a limited temporary restraining order blocking the government from putting USAID employees on leave and reinstating 500 staffers who had already been placed on administrative leave. The order also paused a directive recalling overseas USAID employees to the U.S.
The restraining order is in effect until next Friday, Feb. 14 at 11:59pm. Judge Nichols scheduled a hearing on Feb. 12.
Federal judge blocks Elon Musk’s DOGE access to critical Treasury payment system
A federal judge, citing a risk of “irreparable harm,” has temporarily restricted Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing a critical Treasury Department payment system.
The judge’s order, issued early Saturday, temporarily halts access to a sensitive payment system that distributes Americans’ tax returns, Social Security benefits, disability payments and federal employees’ salaries.
US District Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered the destruction of any downloaded information from the payment system by anyone given access to it since January 20, citing “the risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/08/politics/elon-musk-doge-treasury-payment-system/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/us/politics/judge-will-freeze-elements-of-trump-plan-to-shut-down-usaid.html
https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/02/07/g-s1-47224/usaid-freeze-judge-trump
by Editor BGF | Feb 9, 2025 | World Leader for Peace and Security, News, World Leaders in AIWS Award Updates
Paris, February 10, 2025 – Nguyen Anh Tuan, Co-founder, Co-chair, and CEO of the Boston Global Forum (BGF), will deliver a special tribute to President Emmanuel Macron and the people of France at the AI Action Summit Paris 2025. The tribute, under the theme “Creating a New Paris of Enlightenment,” will celebrate France’s leadership in AI innovation and governance.
This initiative, spearheaded by BGF and the Enlightenment in Action Alliance (EAA), supports France’s implementation of Government 24/7, an AI-driven governance model that ensures seamless and efficient public services. It also aims to position France as a global leader in ethical AI development and a driving force in shaping the AI-powered future.
Keynotes from “Creating a New Paris of Enlightenment”
The summit will feature distinguished speakers presenting strategic AI-driven innovations and policies, including:
- “AIWS Government 24/7 and A New Paris of Enlightenment”
- “Creating A New Paris of Enlightenment”
Keynotes from EAA Contributions
The Enlightenment in Action Alliance (EAA), composed of outstanding students from top universities worldwide, will present its contributions to “Creating a New Paris of Enlightenment”, which include:
- Establishing an AIWS Cloud Laboratory to Accelerate Scientific Research
- Forming an AIWS International Data Library
- Launching AIWS AI for Rural Communities
- Blockchain-Based AI Remote Civil Services
- The AI National Cyber Defense Shield
- AI National Job Market Matching System
A Historic Moment in Global AI Collaboration
This tribute marks a historic milestone in global AI cooperation, cementing France’s leadership in the AI Age and its pivotal role in shaping the future of AI-driven governance and innovation. Through the collaborative efforts of BGF and EAA, the summit will emphasize the importance of ethical AI governance, innovative public service solutions, and France’s vision for a more inclusive and sustainable AI-driven world.
by Editor BGF | Feb 9, 2025 | News, Shaping Futures
On February 3, 2025, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Intel Corporation (Intel) to strengthen their collaboration for the industrialization of quantum technology.
Through this partnership, AIST’s Quantum-AI Fusion Technology Business Development Global Research Center (G-QuAT) will integrate its evaluation testbed and device manufacturing capabilities with Intel’s cutting-edge semiconductor processes.
The goal is to realize a system with tens of thousands of qubits at an industrially viable level by the early 2030s. Specifically, the collaboration will focus on evaluating and optimizing materials and components essential for silicon quantum computer systems, developing implementation technologies, advancing refrigeration technology for large-scale quantum computers, integrating qubits, and developing cryogenic electronics for qubit control.
- AIST and Intel signed an MOU to strengthen collaboration on industrializing quantum technology, focusing on silicon quantum computers.
- The partnership integrates AIST’s G-QuAT research center capabilities with Intel’s established semiconductor processes to potentially develop a system with tens of thousands of qubits by the early 2030s.
- The collaboration will optimize materials, develop implementation and refrigeration technologies, integrate qubits, and create cryogenic electronics for large-scale quantum computing.
https://thequantuminsider.com/2025/02/07/aist-and-intel-strengthen-collaboration-for-industrialization-of-silicon-quantum-computers/
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Japan-lab-and-Intel-set-out-to-develop-next-gen-quantum-computer
by Editor BGF | Feb 9, 2025 | Shinzo Abe Initiative for Peace and Security, News
President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru held their first official meeting Feb 7, 2025 in Washington, D.C., where they affirmed their determination to pursue a new golden age for U.S.-Japan relations that upholds a free and open Indo-Pacific and brings peace and prosperity to a violent and disorderly world.
U.S.-Japan Coordination in the Indo-Pacific
The two leaders shared views on the severe and complex security environment and expressed their determination to continuously cooperate to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific. As part of such cooperation, the two leaders intend to advance multilayered and aligned cooperation among like-minded countries, including Japan-Australia-India-U.S. (Quad), Japan-U.S.-Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan-U.S.-Australia, and Japan-U.S.-Philippines. Through these relationships, the United States, Japan, and like-minded partners can deliver high quality infrastructure investments in the region, including the deployment of Open Radio Access Networks in third countries.
The two leaders reiterated their strong opposition to any attempts by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to change the status quo by force or coercion in the East China Sea. The two leaders reaffirmed their strong opposition to the PRC’s unlawful maritime claims, militarization of reclaimed features, and threatening and provocative activities in the South China Sea.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/02/united-states-japan-joint-leaders-statement/
by Editor BGF | Feb 9, 2025 | Global Alliance for Digital Governance
The Boston Global Forum is pleased to welcome and thank the Enlightenment in Action Alliance (EAA) delegates for attending the AI Action Summit event, including:
| Dang Nguyen |
Harvard University |
| Simar Bajaj |
University of Oxford |
| Cameron Tice |
University of Cambridge |
| Srihitha Dasari |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Sacha Alanoca |
Stanford University |
| Sarosh Nagar |
University College London |
| Cameron Sabet |
Georgetown University |
| Minh Pham |
University of California, Los Angeles |
| Tuan Bao Vinh |
Emory University |
| Luigi De Angelis |
Harvard University |
| Jason Zhao |
University of Pennsylvania |
| Abhishek Das |
Johns Hopkins University |
| Ketan Tamirisa |
Washington University in St. Louis |
| Peyman Owrang |
American University |
| Sammer Marzouk |
Northwestern University |
| Rithwik Sudharsan |
University of California, Berkeley |
| Jennifer Wang |
Brown University |
| Sumanth Ratna |
Yale University |
| Jason Shin |
Stanford University |
| Berke Altiparmak |
Harvard University |
| Urvish Jain |
University of Pittsburgh |
and outstanding students for their contributions to Creating a New Paris of Enlightenment, including:
| Dang Nguyen |
Harvard University |
| Cameron Tice |
University of Cambridge |
| Sarosh Nagar |
University College London |
| Cameron Sabet |
Georgetown University |
| Minh Pham |
University of California, Los Angeles |
| Tuan Bao Vinh |
Emory University |
| Luigi De Angelis |
Harvard University |
| Jason Zhao |
University of Pennsylvania |
| Abhishek Das |
Johns Hopkins University |
| Ketan Tamirisa |
Washington University in St. Louis |
| Sumanth Ratna |
Yale University |
| Jason Shin |
Stanford University |
| Berke Altiparmak |
Harvard University |
| Sammer Marzouk |
Northwestern University |
