In a bid to uncover the future champions of AI, France is launching a multi-million euro project aimed at developing applications based on generative artificial intelligence. The goal is to find the country’s and Europe’s future AI champions within the French digital ecosystem. “We will target generative AI applications that present the best market opportunities,” said Marina Ferrari, the Secretary of State in charge of Digital, who is set to reveal the project on Thursday at the IA Day event in Paris. The project will also support collaborative projects, with a focus on areas such as law, healthcare, encryption, and computer programming.
The French government’s objective is to ensure that the tools developed in this project can be replicated by other users in the same application sector, or even in different sectors, in order to optimize the investment of public money. According to Bercy, the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, the projects will have a funding range of between 1 and 5 million euros. The aim is to promote specialized sovereign technologies, similar to companies like Jimini (legal documents), Bioptimus (biology), or Nabla (medical assistant). This announcement follows a report submitted to the Elysée Palace in mid-March by the Generative Artificial Intelligence Committee, which recommended that France invest five billion euros annually for five years if it wants to remain competitive against the United States and China.
“The amount represents a realistic effort,” said economist Philippe Aghion, co-chair of the committee, after a meeting at the Elysée Palace where 25 proposals were presented. Aghion emphasized that this sum accounts for only 0.3% of public expenditure. Currently, France invests three times less in AI than the United States as a proportion of GDP. Aghion warned that the risk is ending up without specialized AI companies and seeing French businesses lose competitiveness, despite the government’s goal of making France a major player in the sector.
The Generative Artificial Intelligence Committee comprises around fifteen experts, including Cédric O, former Secretary of State for Digital and now a consultant, Yann LeCun, director of Meta’s AI laboratory, Joëlle Barral, scientific director at Google, and Arthur Mensch, co-founder of Mistral AI. Beyond the economic implications, the report highlights the need to raise public awareness and provide massive and continuous training in AI-related jobs. It proposes, for example, the development of higher education programs and the encouragement of teachers to utilize AI. According to Anne Bouverot, Chair of the Board of Directors of the École normale supérieure (ENS) and head of the committee, without such measures, the other recommendations will not have their full effect.
The experts also aim to make France and Europe a major hub for computing power by facilitating the establishment of private computing centers, which are vital for the proper functioning of AI. In addition, the next international summit on AI, to be hosted by France within a year, will lay the groundwork for “international governance” through a global coalition of private and public actors, according to the committee’s experts. By launching this ambitious multi-million euro AI project, France is making a strong statement about its commitment to AI innovation and its desire to become a leading player in the field.
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