Ahead of US Visit, Modi Holds Key Meet with Vance in Paris

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US Vice President JD Vance on the margins of the AI Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday, his first interaction with a key member of the Trump administration ahead of a crucial visit to Washington.

- HT Correspondent

NEW DELHI:

The formal meeting between the two leaders followed a brief encounter during a dinner hosted on Monday night by French President Emmanuel Macron for world leaders attending the AI Summit.

There was no official readout on the meeting that lasted about half an hour, though a brief video posted on social media showed the two leaders shaking hands and talking in the presence of Vance's wife Usha.

Modi said in a post on X: "Had a wonderful meeting with US @VP @JDVance and his family. We had a great conversation on various subjects. Delighted to join them in celebrating the joyous birthday of their son, Vivek!"

A video posted on social media by Macron on Monday showed Modi shaking hands with Vance at the Elysee Palace and congratulating him on the Republican Party's victory in the US presidential election last November.

"Congratulations. Great, great victory," Modi said. Vance replied, "Thank you so much. So nice to see you."

When the two leaders addressed the AI Summit on Tuesday, Vance endorsed Modi's contention that humans can't be replaced by technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Modi described the possible loss of jobs as "AI's most feared disruption" and said history has shown work does not disappear because of technology.

"Its nature changes and new types of jobs are created. We need to invest in skilling and re-skilling our people for an AI-driven future," Modi said.

Vance, who spoke after Modi, appreciated the Prime Minister's point that AI will make people more productive.

"It is not going to replace human beings, it will never replace human beings and I think too many of the leaders in the AI industry, when they talk about this fear of replacing workers, they really miss the point," he said.