Sam Altman to Attend G7 in France as Macron Courts Tech Leaders for AI Ambitions

France's Macron invites Sam Altman to attend G7, OpenAI tells CNBC

OpenAI chief Sam Altman will be attending the G7 conference in France later this month, CNBC has learned, as President Emmanuel Macron steps up efforts to court tech leaders across the globe in support of the country's AI ambitions. France is hosting 2026's G7 conference -- an annual meeting of heads of state or government -- from June 15-17, with AI expected to feature prominently on the agenda. Altman was invited by Macron to participate in the Leaders Summit, OpenAI told CNBC exclusively, in what would be the first time he's attended. "The expectation is that he will be engaging in the leaders-level conversation at the G7," Chris Lehane, chief global affairs officer at OpenAI, told CNBC. The G7 conference will feature the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the EU. Macron has recently been on a charm offensive with tech leaders. Over the weekend, SoftBank said it planned to invest 45 billion euros ($53 billion) over the next five years to build AI infrastructure in France. This came after Macron personally courted the founder and CEO Masayoshi Son. The French president requested a meeting with Son and then asked him to build a data center in France, the SoftBank CEO told CNBC on Monday. Son added that the two "exchang[ed] texts" as they hashed out the details of the deal.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will attend G7 in France

OpenAI chief Sam Altman will join leaders at the G7 summit in France this month. Artificial intelligence will be a major focus for discussions. G7 ministers recently met to address AI's impact on child protection and energy grids. The growing demand for computing power is straining electricity supplies and requiring rare materials. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will attend the G7 summit in France later this month, a source told AFP on Wednesday, with artificial intelligence set to feature high on the agenda. The summit of the Group of Seven leading economies will be held in the French Alpine lakeside resort of Evian on June 15-17, with US President Donald Trump also confirmed as attending. Altman was invited by French President Emmanuel Macron, CNBC said, citing OpenAI. Ahead of the summit, G7 ministers held a digital meeting in Paris last week on online child protection and AI's energy impact. They issued a statement that acknowledged the pressure that AI is placing on electricity grids. AI firms' pursuit of computing capacity is driving demand for energy to power data centres, as well as for rare raw materials for high-end chips. The statement, which also acknowledged AI can be misused by "malicious actors," will serve as a preparatory document for the G7 leaders' summit. OpenAI created the pioneering ChatGPT artificial intelligence platform, but now faces stiff competition from rivals including Google and Anthropic.