What do presidents and prime ministers say about AI?

Thirteen heads of state and government and the UN Secretary-General, from six regions, on what AI is for and who should control it. Read together, the speeches divide less by party than by position in the world. Leaders of the countries that build the models talk about winning: Donald Trump declared in July 2025 that America 'is going to win' the race, and Keir Starmer presented AI in January 2025 as a force that will 'transform the lives of working people for the better'. Leaders of the countries that buy the models talk about being left behind or being dominated: Paul Kagame in Kigali, Faure Gnassingbé on rural workers, Lula da Silva on who controls the algorithms. Between them sit those who say the direction is a political choice, Giorgia Meloni most plainly.

This is one of nine slices of the register of what the world's leaders say about AI, which sets out how every quotation was found and checked twice against its source. 13 heads of state, government and the United Nations, 13 quotations, grouped by region.

UK#

AI isn't something locked away behind the walls of blue-chip companies…It's a force for change that will transform the lives of working people for the better.

Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom. Speech launching the AI Opportunities Action Plan, University College London, 13 January 2025. gov.uk. He presented AI adoption as a route to improving public services and living standards rather than a threat to be contained.

And in the most unlikely but extreme cases, there is even the risk that humanity could lose control of AI completely…through the kind of AI sometimes referred to as 'super intelligence'.

Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom. Speech on artificial intelligence, London, ahead of the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, 26 October 2023. gov.uk. He argued that governments, not only developers, must assess the most severe potential harms of frontier AI.

Europe#

The future of AI will be built by those who combine innovation and responsibility, technology with humanity, and India and France will help to shape this future together.

Emmanuel Macron, President of France, France. Address at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, New Delhi, 19 February 2026. The Tribune (India). He linked AI leadership to responsibility and to partnership between France and India rather than to a two-power race.

The time has come to formulate a vision of where we want artificial intelligence to take us, as a society and as humanity.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, European Union. Speech at the AI Action Summit, Grand Palais, Paris, 11 February 2025. Eunews. She set out a European approach combining investment and simplified rules while insisting on a shared societal purpose for AI.

Machines will not answer these questions. We can do it; politics must do it. And it is politics that must guarantee that artificial intelligence remains human-controlled and human-centric.

Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy, Italy. Address to the United Nations Summit of the Future, New York, 23 September 2024. Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN (italyun.esteri.it). Official English translation from Italian. She argued that the direction of AI is a political choice that cannot be delegated to the technology itself.

North America#

America is the country that started the AI race. And as President of the United States, I'm here today to declare that America is going to win it.

Donald Trump, President of the United States, United States. Address at the 'Winning the AI Race' summit, Washington DC, unveiling America's AI Action Plan, 23 July 2025. Tech Policy Press (full transcript). He framed AI primarily as a national competition with China to be won by reducing regulation.

In the age of AI, it's more important than ever that the people must govern. And as the land of liberty, America – not China – must lead the world on the development of AI.

Joe Biden, President of the United States, United States. Farewell Address to the Nation from the Oval Office, 15 January 2025. Miller Center, University of Virginia. In the address that warned of a 'tech-industrial complex', he argued that democratic institutions, not private companies, must set AI's direction.

Latin America#

When few control the algorithms and digital infrastructures, we are not talking about innovation, but about domination.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, Brazil. Speech at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, New Delhi, February 2026. Tech Policy Press. Official English translation from Portuguese. He argued that concentration of AI infrastructure and data in a few firms and countries amounts to a new dependency for the Global South.

Africa#

However, it is unfortunate, that the rise of this new technology, is being overshadowed by geopolitical competition. For now, technological development is concentrated in a few countries. Africa cannot afford to be left behind, once again playing catch-up. We have to adapt, cooperate and compete, because it is in our best interest to do so.

Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, Rwanda. Remarks at the Global AI Summit on Africa, Kigali, 3 April 2025. paulkagame.rw (Office of the President of Rwanda). He argued that African countries must build their own AI capacity rather than wait for the technology to reach them.

We have to be careful. AI should not only serve a connected urban minority while leaving out informal workers and young people in rural areas who lack access to technology

Faure Gnassingbé, President of Togo, Togo. Global AI Summit on Africa, Kigali, April 2025. Xinhua (english.news.cn). Outlet's translation from French. He warned that AI deployment in Africa could bypass informal and rural workers.

Asia#

Humans must never become mere data points or raw material for machines. Instead, AI must become a tool for global good, opening new doors of progress for the Global South.

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, India. Signed article by the Prime Minister, 'Shaping a Human-centric future for AI', published around the India AI Impact Summit 2026, February 2026. Embassy of India, Juba (indembjuba.gov.in). He argued that AI should amplify human intent and serve the Global South rather than treat people as inputs.

Many worry that this time things will be different. Because AI can do more than just help us at work. It can potentially replace many tasks – even entire jobs.

Lawrence Wong, Prime Minister of Singapore, Singapore. National Day Rally 2025 (English speech), Singapore, 17 August 2025. Prime Minister's Office Singapore (pmo.gov.sg). He addressed public anxiety about AI displacing jobs while setting out a government approach of adopting the technology alongside unions.

International#

We need guardrails that preserve human agency, human oversight and human accountability.

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, International. Remarks at the opening ceremony of the India AI Impact Summit, New Delhi, 18 February 2026. UN News. He called for global guardrails and a fund so that developing countries share in AI's benefits.

What the heads of government agree on#

Control is the line they share. Rishi Sunak's speech of October 2023, Meloni at the United Nations in September 2024, Joe Biden's farewell address, Narendra Modi's article of February 2026 and António Guterres in New Delhi all say that AI must remain under human control, or that the people must govern it. The demand is the same from London, Rome, Washington, New Delhi and the United Nations. None of the thirteen says which decisions, in which institution, a machine may take, or who can stop it.

Where they divide#

They divide on what the technology is for. In Washington and London it is growth and a race. In Paris and Brussels it is a vision to be formulated and a responsibility to be combined with innovation. In Kigali, Lomé, Brasília and New Delhi it is a question of access, of who owns the infrastructure and whose data is taken. Lawrence Wong in Singapore is the one head of government here who names the fear directly, that this time the technology can replace entire jobs, and answers it with unions in the room.

The decision that stays with you#

A government can legislate for oversight. An organisation still has to decide which decisions a machine may make in its name, who can stop each one, what its people must remain able to do without the machine, and how anyone would know if it went wrong. The pages on meaningful human oversight and Rules Before Tools set out that decision, which is where the measurable risk sits: in the handover of decisions to machines and what happens to human judgement afterwards.

What these quotations do not show#

A speech is a position on a day, not a policy, and several of these leaders have said different things at other times; each line was chosen for being verifiable at source. The sample is small and skews towards leaders who spoke in English or whose governments publish translations. China, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Germany and the Gulf states have no head of government here yet, and Barack Obama's remarks on public oversight of AI are left out because the Obama Foundation's page carrying them is undated. Nothing here measures what any government has done.