In recent years, progress in domains such as artificial intelligence and quantum technologies – alongside their convergence in emerging quantum AI applications – have offered significant advances in economic growth and competitiveness. AI has already demonstrated its transformative potential as a key enabler of productivity, innovation and efficiency, and quantum technologies hold the promise of ushering in a new paradigm for digital economies and societies. These technologies are expected to deliver breakthroughs in critical areas such as climate change mitigation, disease modelling, food security, digital financial services and infrastructure.
However, these developments also introduce new vulnerabilities and risks. AI is associated with an increasing dependence on critical, highly concentrated inputs and infrastructures, as well as persistent accountability and governance challenges. Quantum, in turn, could render existing encryption standards ineffective, with significant implications for financial systems, critical infrastructure and national security.
The 2025 G7 Kananaskis Summit marked a major step forward in addressing AI and quantum technologies, with the consensus reached on the G7 Leaders’ Statement on AI for Prosperity and the Kananaskis Common Vision for the Future of Quantum Technologies (the first ever G7 commitments on this topic). Since then, efforts have increasingly focused on operationalising these commitments, with Canada launching the G7 GovAI Grand Challenge and the G7 AI Network to scale up the use of AI in the public sector, as well as the AI Adoption Roadmap to support small and medium-sized enterprises. Accordingly, G7 governments have made substantial progress in accelerating AI readiness and competitiveness. Notably, the EU’s InvestAI Initiative aims to mobilise €200 billion in investment, Germany has developed a ‘living lab’ for trustworthy AI adoption among SMEs, and France has introduced the ‘Osez l’IA’ plan, with an AI Guarantee Fund (€24 million) to de-risk AI investment for SMEs.
Making uneven progress
Building on this momentum, the Digital Track under France’s presidency in 2026 demonstrates continuity, particularly in promoting a human-centric, trustworthy approach to AI and supporting broader adoption, including among SMEs. At the same time, it places a new emphasis on the security dimension in response to an increasingly complex geopolitical environment. In this context, France is advancing the G7 agenda on quantum technologies beyond the initial phase of monitoring and impact assessment, shifting towards concrete risk mitigation and preparedness measures. A key example of this is the statement, released in January by the G7 Cyber Expert Group, on advancing a coordinated roadmap for the transition to post-quantum cryptography in the financial sector, although the full migration of critical systems and assets is only expected by the end of 2032.
However, implementation remains uneven and often falls short of stated ambitions, highlighting the ongoing challenge of turning shared commitments into concrete results. Although the G7 has been successful in providing strategic direction and encouraging discussion, progress is hindered by internal dynamics and external pressures. Internally, diverging national approaches to AI – ranging from the innovation-driven model in the United States to the European Union’s more regulatory, ethics-based framework – complicate coordination, as do broader differences in national priorities, technological capabilities and concerns over security and sovereignty. These divergences may also affect practical initiatives, such as the AI Adoption Roadmap, which faces challenges in developing a coherent liability framework to support SMEs across jurisdictions. Externally, the development of a coherent global response is further complicated by growing competition from non-G7 actors, particularly China, for technological leadership. This competition risks exacerbating existing disparities and international rivalries, especially during this period of geopolitical instability and economic fragmentation. These challenges are further compounded by the rapid pace, complexity and transnational nature of AI and quantum, requiring sustained and structured engagement with the full range of key stakeholders across the digital ecosystem.
Operationalising AI governance
At the Évian Summit in June, G7 leaders can best contribute by reinforcing coordination and turning ongoing dialogue into more sustained, inclusive and operational governance, despite the high level of uncertainty surrounding US engagement. As AI and quantum technologies become increasingly central to economic competitiveness and strategic power, the priority should be to further identify and advance concrete areas of convergence, even in the presence of persistent regulatory and geopolitical divergences. In this context, structured engagement with G7 engagement groups – particularly the Business 7 and Tech 7 – will be essential to integrate private sector expertise and ensure that policy responses remain aligned with rapidly evolving technological and industrial realities. However, as these forums tend to amplify the voices of major technology companies, it is important to ensure broader participation from the entire digital ecosystem. A genuinely human-centric approach requires going beyond Big Tech, whose financial resources enable strong representation in policy processes, to ensure that policy outcomes support the most inclusive and equitable technological development and deployment.
