An artificial intelligence race is heating up between the United States and China — but don’t count Europe out.

That is the case President Emmanuel Macron of France made this week as his country hosts an A.I. summit in Paris, where government leaders, top tech executives and academic experts gathered on Monday to discuss the fears and hopes surrounding A.I technology.

“There’s a race to scale,” Mr. Macron told France 2 television on Sunday night under the soaring steel and glass roof of the Grand Palais, the exhibition hall where France and India have teamed up to hold the summit.

“Are we completely behind the curve? No,” Mr. Macron insisted as he urged Europe to invest heavily in its own A.I. abilities.

“We respect and want to work with the United States, we want to work with China, but we don’t want to depend on anyone,” he later added.

Attendees at the summit, which runs through Tuesday, include Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI; Zhang Guoqing, China’s vice premier; and Vice President JD Vance, who is on his first trip overseas.