Safety Sidelined At The Paris AI Summit, And Reduced Digital Access At New York Fashion Week

Can fashion thrive without a unified global framework for AI?

This week, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit in Paris took place.

But at the denouement – the declaration, signed by 61 countries including France, China and India that pledges an “open”, “inclusive” and “ethical” approach to the technology’s development – was not signed by the UK and the US. 

The declaration sets out an ambition to reduce digital divides by promoting AI accessibility, and ensuring the tech’s development is “transparent”, “safe” as well as “secure and trustworthy”. It also calls for greater collaboration when it comes to AI governance, calling for a “global dialogue.”

“We feel very strongly that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship,” U.S. vice president, JD Vance, said in a speech during the summit’s closing ceremony.

For the UK’s part, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that: “We agreed with much of the leaders’ declaration and continue to work closely with our international partners. This is reflected in our signing of agreements on sustainability and cybersecurity today at the Paris AI Action summit,” the spokesperson said. “However, we felt the declaration didn’t provide enough practical clarity on global governance, nor sufficiently address harder questions around national security and the challenge AI poses to it.”

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron held the position that this was very needed. “We need these rules for artificial intelligence to move forward,” he said. “It’s not a question of defiance, it’s not a question of thwarting innovation, it’s a question of enabling [innovation] to happen at an international level while avoiding fragmentation.”

This is yet another demonstration of how difficult it is to find common ground on critical issues amid today’s tempestuous economic and geopolitical climate. The question is, will a unified, global framework ever be reached? At this stage, it seems unlikely. 

The upshot is that each jurisdiction would make their own AI regulations, not entirely in a vacuum, but still with many idiosyncracies. 

For the fashion industry, where global operations are standard, a fragmented, country-specific AI framework could introduce a lot of complexity and operational challenges. But the sheer panic that usually occurs over data protection may well see this situation happening. 

Case in point, Elon Musk is causing fears over data security this week, along with what will happen to the US Education Department going forward. The Washington Post reported that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team is using AI software to “pore over every dollar of money the [Education] department disburses, from contracts to grants to work trip expenses” to investigate the agency’s programs and spending in order to cut the size and functions of the federal government.

Like other tech leaders, Musk has long advocated for AI’s ability to process vast amounts of information quickly – often surpassing human comprehension. However, due to the risks involved, numerous private-sector firms and US government agencies have restricted employees from using AI on confidential materials. Entering sensitive data into AI systems hands it over to the platform’s operator, heightening the risk of leaks or exposure in cyberattacks.

International law firm Hill Dickinson has had similar concerns, and is now blocking general access to several AI tools after it found a “significant increase in usage” by its employees. The firm said much of the usage was not in line with its AI policy, and going forward the firm would only allow staff to access the tools via a request process.

But a spokesperson from the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s data watchdog, has raised their own unease at the situation, stating that companies should not discourage the use of AI in the workplace. 

The spokesperson added: “With AI offering people countless ways to work more efficiently and effectively, the answer cannot be for organisations to outlaw the use of AI and drive staff to use it under the radar. Instead, companies need to offer their staff AI tools that meet their organisational policies and data protection obligations.”

In the fashion industry, this approach would also be essential on a country level, or perhaps for a bloc of countries like the EU. However, it would need to be carefully planned to ensure both cooperation and growth, while maintaining safety. 

There is still so much more to come from AI and it’s clear that the US and UK want to accelerate the innovators, the startups, and the adopters of AI. Even within countries, regulatory bodies often provide conflicting information, hindering the adoption of technology. When global regulations are added to the mix, the slowdown intensifies. Striking the right balance between growth and safety is a complex challenge for any nation, and with the US and UK pursuing separate paths, we’re still in the phase where nearly anything is possible.

Digital democratisation for deeper connection and data

New York Fashion Week (NYFW) autumn/winter 2025 came to a close on Tuesday. This season offered some outstanding collections from Thom Browne (whose show was a theatrical delight, as usual) Collina Strada, and Carolina Herrera – to name just a few. 

What was noticeably absent was a centralised digital hub for accessing shows and presentations, something that we at The Interline, watching from afar, assumed would be in place.

There were those who provided the ability to watch via Instagram or on their website, and also provided some beautifully curated content in the form of pictures and videos to showcase the collection. However, this is not quite the same thing as the organisers of NYFW making each show available for the wider public to access. 

Christina Binkley for Vogue Business points out that there was such a thing – Runway360 – that was run by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). But this was discontinued in spring 2024 due to a lack of interest.

It could be that digital fashion shows reached their peak during the pandemic and with the industry gradually transitioning back to fully in-person experiences in the years that followed. By 2021, many brands were already working toward a return to traditional formats, integrating digital elements as a complement – sometimes more like an afterthought – rather than an embedded, permanent feature. 

For doing exactly that, Digital Fashion Week New York (DFWNY) was created to blend the digital and the physical, running in parallel with traditional fashion weeks to create in-person events fused with digital elements. This could offer a glimpse into  the future of fashion weeks, with Big Tech still betting big on the future of wearable technology. 

With devices like the Apple Vision Pro, Ray Ban/Meta’s Smart Glasses, and Snap Inc’s Spectacles, attending a fashion show or presentation virtually in one of the fashion capitals might actually be a remarkable experience – for both brands and for viewers. So viewers (who are potential customers) get to experience something that most likely they would never get to attend in person, and the brand could gain valuable data from that viewer. 

A key consideration, however, would be ensuring that even with a central platform, the data generated for each brand remains exclusive to them.

This may not be so far off with new apps popping up every day. Pinksky – an Instagram-like app built on top of X-esque Bluesky – arrived on Android this week, and BuzzFeed is considering building its own social media platform to compete with the big players and better distribute its content, reports Semafor.

Brands and retailers want to build deeper, more direct connections with their consumers – creating a personal relationship that goes beyond transactions. Democratising top showcases seems like an opportunity to achieve this. While in-person events will always retain an element of exclusivity due to budget and space constraints, true inclusivity could be unlocked through digital access.

The Interline team believes that fashion is moving toward a mixed reality future, though the timeline and trajectory remain uncertain. As digital-only, physical, and hybrid environments continue to evolve, digital fashion is poised to play a significant role in how brands engage, create, and connect.

Change may come sooner than expected, though. The CFDA is now a strategic collaborator of KFN, a newly formed entity created by Kilburn Media’s KN Fashion and N4XT Experiences (the group behind LA Fashion Week). KFN aims to become the new event platform for New York Fashion Week, focusing on both physical and digital infrastructure for American designers. While it’s being introduced this season, its official launch is set for September and we’ll be watching to see how it unfolds.

Best from The Interline: 

Kicking off this week, we sat down with Cyrille Ancely – Component Digital Twin Leader at Decathlon – and Frederic Frache, Modelling And Texture Artist for Decathlon’s Product Asset Team to discuss why pushing technology forward, recognising the limits of trust, and supporting cultural transformation have become the essential pieces of 3D transformation at one of the world’s best-known sports businesses.

Next, Mark Harrop breaks down the PLM barrier to discover ‘How AI And Better Affordability Are Empowering Small Fashion Brands’.

And closing out the week, we spoke to Style3D’s CEO on revolutionising fashion through AI-powered 3D design, from concept to consumer, in an era where digital transformation isn’t just an option—it’s essential.