Drawing a new action plan so as not to miss this shift in progress, Emmanuel Macron calls for an “awakening of European funding for these technologies”. France will organize a world summit on February 10 and 11, 2025.
The impact and strategic issues linked to artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on society and the economy are such that France has no room for error if it does not want to lose ground in the years to come . “ We need to go a step further (…) because for France and Europe, the battle for artificial intelligence is an existential battle, on which our ability to create wealth will depend “, insisted Emmanuel Macron during a speech at the Élysée, where he brought together the French AI ecosystem and leaders of large international technology companies. The opportunity for the President of the Republic to present what he retained from the recommendations of the report submitted in mid-March by the committee of experts on AI, mandated by Matignon in the fall of 2023, to better guide the government in its policies.
As evidenced by the new fundraising of $220 million announced Tuesday by the French start-up Holistic AI (renamed H), supported by Bernard Arnault, Xavier Niel, the former boss of Google Eric Schmidt, Amazon and Samsung, the France enjoys one of the most vibrant AI ecosystems in Europe. It is now a matter of changing scale to play in the big leagues, with the United States, China and the United Kingdom. “ Today we must take the right turn at the right speed in France and Europe », summarizes Emmanuel Macron. To train more massively in AI, 400 million euros will be invested in nine centers of excellence, “AI clusters”.
Strengthen computing power
To strengthen its computing power capacity, a key issue, to make all these technologies work, France will facilitate the establishment of data centers on French territory, in particular through better access to land and a simplification of procedures, currently very complex. The bill to simplify economic life tabled last April includes provisions on this subject. We must also count on international players, such as those announced by Microsoft, AWS, Equinix and the Japanese KDDI. “We must go from 3% to 20% of chip capacities globally» sets out the President of the Republic, who also wishes to attract international partnerships to produce in France the new generations of necessary AI chips.
To better finance the European AI and quantum ecosystem, and support the rapid growth of its best champions, Emmanuel Macron announces the launch, beyond the Tibi 2 initiative, of a new fund of an amount “ significant » – which he did not specify – which will be subscribed to a quarter by the French State. “ Our goal is to Europeanize it, and we will start with a Franco-German initiative »indicated the president.
An “AI action summit” in France in February 2025
Earlier in the day, Emmanuel Macron participated by videoconference in a conference on AI which took place in Seoul, South Korea, a sort of milestone after the first global summit on AI organized by the United Kingdom. United last November. France will organize the following one on February 10 and 11, 2025, which it wishes to open to other topics of debate than security, such as the impact on work, the question of access for less developed countries or the necessary governance worldwide. “The only good governance is global” believes Emmanuel Macron, who wants to bring together the best voices on artificial intelligence to have a productive “international conversation” and bring about international standards. “ We have the capacity to be one of the great champion countries of AI » concluded the President of the Republic. As long as you give yourself the means.
