FREETOWN, Monday November 10, 2026 — President Julius Maada Bio has joined world leaders at a high-level virtual meeting convened by French President Emmanuel Macron on international cooperation in frontier AI security, where he outlined Sierra Leone’s priorities for global AI governance.
Writing on social media after the meeting, President Bio said:
“At President Emmanuel Macron’s high-level virtual meeting on international cooperation in frontier AI security, I outlined three priorities:
– Common, credible safety and security evaluation standards.
– Clear accountability for developing and deploying frontier AI models.
– International mechanisms to report serious incidents and share information on emerging threats.
Sierra Leone welcomes the proposed Paris Declaration and supports its focus on shared evaluation standards, accountability and cooperation on incident reporting.”
The meeting brought together heads of state and technology leaders to discuss how to ensure the most advanced AI systems remain safe, secure and accountable while promoting innovation.
According to officials, the proposed *Paris Declaration on Frontier AI Safety* comes amid growing global concern that advances in artificial intelligence are moving faster than governments can regulate. Frontier AI refers to the most powerful general-purpose models at the cutting edge of technology, capable of circumventing safeguards and gaining unauthorised access to real-world systems.
The declaration builds on a joint statement endorsed in September 2026 titled “A Call for Control of Frontier AI Models”, published by the Norwegian Government.
The statement warned of risks posed by highly capable AI and was co-endorsed by President Bio, President Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and African leaders including Kenyan President William Ruto and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
President Bio said Sierra Leone, as a champion of responsible technology and innovation in Africa, remains committed to working with international partners to ensure AI serves humanity safely. Under his administration, Sierra Leone has established a National Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) and launched initiatives on AI for education, health and financial inclusion.
Other leaders who joined the Macron-chaired call on November 9 included Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer, who both stressed the need for common international standards and the role of national AI Safety Institutes.
France has made AI governance a strategic priority. In October, President Macron convened a Defence and National Security Council meeting dedicated to AI, saying, like space and nuclear energy, AI has become a strategic field that raises major issues regarding national sovereignty.
The Paris Declaration is expected to be formally adopted in the coming weeks, setting out commitments for ethical, democratic and environmentally sustainable AI, including shared evaluation, mandatory incident reporting, and accountability for developers and deployers of frontier models.
