French President Macron Calls for Creation of National AI Leaders
During his speech at VivaTech in Paris, one of Europe’s largest technology trade shows, President Emmanuel Macron advocated for France to take the lead in artificial intelligence (AI).
He announced 500 million euros ($543 million) in new funding to “create champions” of artificial intelligence and praised projects aimed at French-speakers as concerns grow about Silicon Valley companies feeding off English-language dominance in artificial intelligence systems.
Twitter and Tesla boss Elon Musk is scheduled to appear at VivaTech on Friday, where he is likely to talk about his company Neuralink, which recently won US approval for human trials of technology that uses implants to connect brains to computers.
More than 2,000 companies will exhibit at VivaTech, which runs from Wednesday to Saturday, with products ranging from augmented reality ski masks to an AI-animated bot that lets you “chat” with Dutch master Vincent Van Gogh.
Tens of thousands of visitors are expected for the event, and Saturday is open to the public.
Macron is a regular visitor, and this year his intervention promises to accelerate the race for AI supremacy in Europe, with Britain making several recent announcements.
Macron, who previously confirmed he would meet Musk on Friday, talked about raising the level of education in artificial intelligence to create several centers of excellence.
He appeared on stage with several founders of French startups, including Mistral AI, which this week announced it had raised €105 million, a record for a French AI company.
Macron has also encouraged the European Union to adopt AI rules as soon as possible, but warned of regulation without investment.
“The worst-case scenario would be Europe, which invests much less than the Americans and the Chinese, but starts by creating regulation,” he said.
“That scenario is possible, but it wouldn’t be one that I’m advocating.”
The EU AI law has been raging in the bloc’s legislative processes since 2021, and is unlikely to be in force for several years.
