Council of Europe head revives Biden-backed framework for AI regulation

The Biden administration and a number of countries in Europe have endorsed a framework for AI regulation that respects human rights, democracy and the rule of law, but it is generally unheard of outside of the tiny European organization that drafted it. 

Alain Berset is the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, an important but relatively unknown independent organization of 46 member states and based in Strasbourg, France.

Berset, a former president of Switzerland, is trying to change that and bring some attention to his organization. He carried out an inaugural visit to Washington, D.C., last week and met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, think tanks and journalists. 

Part of his message was promoting the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, a treaty published in September 2024 that was signed by the former Biden administration along with 20 other countries, including Japan and Israel, as well as a number of countries in Europe and the Americas.

The framework is a legally-binding document but has only been ratified, so far, by the European Union — and only recently, in May 2026.

But President Trump’s rejection and criticism of any regulation surrounding AI represents one of the biggest hurdles toward trying to convince other countries to take seriously dire warnings from tech companies and others about the destructive power of the advancing technology. 

“I do not see any alternative to a strong, I........

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