Thales: and the CEA sign a partnership on trust-generating artificial intelligence applied to defense and security

• The CEA and Thales announce the signing of their new partnership in the field of generative artificial intelligence (AI).
• Gathered within cortAIx, Thales’ AI accelerator in critical systems, the Group’s AI research teams will collaborate with those of the CEA to provide sovereign, controlled and trusted AI solutions.
• Through this partnership, for an initial duration of 3 years and renewable, Thales brings its expertise in AI and its in-depth knowledge of defense and security professions, and the CEA its know-how in multimodal generative AI (based on texts, images, audio, electromagnetic signals, structured data, etc.). The common ambition is to accelerate the integration of AI into the solutions offered to Thales customers, whose missions are ultra-critical.

Alexandre Bounouh, Director of the CEA-List institute, specialist in intelligent digital systems, and Bertrand Tavernier, Technical Director of Thales’ Secure Information and Communication Systems activity, during the signing of the partnership on April 30, 2024 in Palaiseau .

To create trusted generative AI solutions, cortAIx Lab (Thales), the most powerful integrated critical AI laboratory in Europe, and the CEA, a French research organization among the most innovative in the world, appearing with Thales in the Top 100 global Clarivate Analytics¹are now joining forces around numerous use cases of generative AI, particularly for intelligence or command.

Bertrand Tavernier, Technical Director of the Secure Information and Communication Systems activity of Thales: “ This partnership with the CEA’s artificial intelligence teams will combine the power of their research and that of cortAIx, Thales’ AI accelerator, which combines the Group’s technological expertise and its in-depth knowledge of defense professions. and security. Our customers, armed forces, States, critical infrastructure operators, need sovereign and trusted generative AI solutions that meet their critical uses. »

Alexandre Bounouh, Director of the CEA List institute, specialist in intelligent digital systems: “Based on a long-term collaboration between the CEA and Thales, this partnership makes it possible to extend and expand it on the sensitive subject of generative AI, by combining the expertise and excellence of the CEA research teams in AI safety and security with the force of cortAIx for the strategic domain of defense and security. It will support the CEA’s mission in the areas of safety, security and artificial intelligence with our partners and all institutional and industrial players in the field. »

Use cases in the service of the armed forces

Generative AI could be developed for the purposes ofacceleration of OODA command loops (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) and implementation throughout the critical decision chain: detection and collection of data; data transmission and storage; data processing and decision-making.

She will play the role of a trusted smart assistant for users, allowing them to easily and efficiently interact with complex systems with the aim of facilitating and accelerating human decision-making and the tempo of operations. For example, applied to intelligence fieldmultimodal generative AI, will make it possible to simultaneously extract, process, correlate and interpret different types of information from multiple sources, such as social networks, the web or even sensors in a theater of operations, to generate summaries and accelerate the production of reliable reports.

cortAIx Lab and the CEA will also place at the center of their thinking interoperability within the framework of coalitions. In order to simplify communication between States in a context of joint operation, trust-generative AI will facilitate interaction between operators and complex systems by translating their intentions into a series of actions and by translating technical terms in the language of all coalition member states.

Thales, leader in trusted AI for critical systems

Thales is a major player trusted, cyber-secure, transparent, explainable and ethical AI, serving the armed forces, aircraft manufacturers and critical infrastructure operators. In 2023, the Group will be at the top in Europe in ranking of patent applicants in critical systems AI. It has more than 600 AI experts and around a hundred doctoral students in AI each year, grouped within cortAIxher AI accelerator in the field of research (cortAIx Lab), systems (cortAIx Factory for decision support systems in particular) and sensors (CortAIx Sensors for sonars, radars, radios, optronics in particular). Thanks to cortAIx and its network of leading industrial, start-up and academic partners, Thales is integrating AI into more than one hundred of its products and services. Benefiting from the best sensor and system technologies, these AI capabilities cover all needs in the fields of defense, space, aeronautics, cybersecurity and digital identity. Trusted AI meets the needs of security and of sovereignty of Thales customers. It brings moreefficiency in data analysis and decision makingaccelerates the detectionL’identification and the classification objects or scenes of interest; while taking into account specific constraints, such as cybersecurity, L’embarkability and the frugalitylinked to critical environments.

The CEA, a leading player in trusted AI for critical systems

In the field of artificial intelligence, the CEA benefits from a unique positioning across the entire AI chain, with skills extending from algorithms and software development tools to software architectures. calculation and microelectronics. The hardware and software solutions developed by the CEA, in collaboration with its academic and industrial partners, target applications where the quality and performance of AI are critical, whether these are sovereign applications for which the CEA is its own client (cybersecurity, defense, energy) or industrial applications to which the CEA provides its expertise.

The CEA has developed high-level expertise in AI technologies allowing it to support its industrial partners in the development of innovative solutions in this area. Within its institute specializing in intelligent digital systems (CEA-List), the CEA focuses its research on the development of efficient, sovereign and trusted models.

Alongside Thales, the CEA teams will more specifically mobilize their expertise to develop LLM (Large Language Models) and VLM (Vision Language Models) adapted to the field and use cases targeted by Thales.

About the CEA

The CEA informs public decision-making and provides concrete scientific and technological solutions to the driving forces (businesses and communities) in major areas for society: energy and digital transitions, future health, defense and global security.
​The leading public research organization in the world’s top 100 innovation players (Clarivate 2024), the CEA has a role as a catalyst and accelerator of innovation serving French industry. It improves the competitiveness of companies in all sectors through the creation of efficient and differentiating products and provides innovative solutions to shed light on developments in our society. The CEA deploys this dynamic in all regions of France by supporting its local partners in their approach to innovation and thus contributes to the creation of value and long-term jobs in the region, as close as possible to industrial needs. At the same time, it supports the development of its 250 startups, agile vectors for transferring know-how and disruptive technologies from laboratories. ​
​To find out more: www.cea.fr

About Thales

Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global leader in high technologies specializing in three business sectors: Defense & Security, Aeronautics & Space, and Cybersecurity & Digital Identity.

It develops products and solutions that contribute to a safer, more environmentally friendly and more inclusive world.

The Group invests nearly 4 billion euros per year in Research & Development, particularly in key areas of innovation such as AI, cybersecurity, quantum, cloud technologies and 6G.

Thales has nearly 81,000 employees in 68 countries. In 2023, the Group achieved a turnover of 18.4 billion euros.

¹ The CEA is included in the global top 100 innovators published by Clarivate Analytics alongside Thales: Thales in the Top 100 most innovative global companies for the eleventh time | Thales Group