G7 Leaders Land in France as Trump's Iran Threat and AI War Fears Explode
A massive security operation in Evian, France, is underway for the G7 summit, where U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to push for military action against Iran while European allies scramble to respond to a new "AI war" triggered by Washington's block on its own technology.
Over 20,000 police and soldiers have been deployed, warships are scanning Lake Geneva for drones, and airspace is closed as world leaders gather in the French town of Évian for the annual Group of Seven summit [172543][172761]. The security tactics are directly inspired by the Paris 2024 Olympic Games [172761]. However, the biggest source of worry among organizers is not security breaches but Donald Trump's mood, as the U.S.-led military tension with Iran is now expected to dominate his agenda [172543][172707].
Separately, small groups of protesters clashed with police in Geneva on Sunday ahead of the summit, with demonstrators throwing projectiles at officers and police responding with tear gas and water cannons [172760]. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin both called Trump on the same day, with Zelenskyy’s 35-minute call leading to a meeting at the G7 on Tuesday, while Putin’s 55-minute call resulted in another trip to Moscow by Trump’s envoy [172744][172692].
Adding to the tensions, the American startup Anthropic has disabled its latest artificial intelligence model, Mythos 5, at the request of the U.S. government, a move that European officials fear signals the beginning of an "AI war" as Washington tightens its grip on the sector [172763]. French authorities have also raised the alarm over rapid advances in AI, warning that foreign actors could use the technology to manipulate the 2027 presidential election [171669].