French President Emmanuel Macron took part in the country’s most vital technology event Viva Tech. Macron told CNBC France that he would “invest like crazy” in artificial intelligence
Nathan Laine | Bloomberg | Getty’s paintings
PARIS – France is taking an enormous step to change into the European center of artificial intelligence, supporting a fast-growing and widely advertised technology.
“I feel we’re primary [in AI] in continental Europe and we’d like to speed up,” French President Emmanuel Macron told CNBC’s Karen Tso last week.
Countries try to position themselves as AI hubs as the technology is seen as revolutionary and subsequently of strategic importance to governments around the world. AI is seen as a consider industries starting from finance to healthcare, nevertheless it has also been caught in the middle of a broader tech battle raging between China and the US
The hype around artificial intelligence was partly attributable to the viral nature of the American company OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot.
Artificial intelligence was the buzzword on everyone’s lips at Viva Tech’s annual French tech conference, from start-ups to established tech firms, and firms in industries as diverse as cosmetics and banking.
Macron, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and Digital Minister Jean-Noel Barrot attended the event, adding government support to France’s technological push.
“We are going to invest like crazy in training and research,” Macron told CNBC, adding that France is well-positioned in the field of artificial intelligence due to access to talent and start-ups emerging around the technology.
While the US is seen as a frontrunner in AI in lots of respects, France hopes to catch up.
“Imagine me, it’s clear that the US is primary, for a reason, since it’s an enormous domestic market … I need us to clearly fill the gap and invest way more, develop way more and speed up much,” Macron said.
Paris’s ambitions face stiff competition even inside the European Union.
“France definitely has a likelihood to be a frontrunner in Europe, nevertheless it faces strong competition from Germany and the UK,” Anton Dahbura, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy, told CNBC.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week unveiled his proposal for the UK to change into a worldwide hub for artificial intelligence.
Dahbura said that for France to succeed, it’s going to need to “use AI to construct on economic areas where it’s already strong”, comparable to manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.
“This is an important time to get strategic, discover specific areas with distinct competencies, and invest heavily in AI to construct a bonus,” Dahbura said.
French AI firms in the highlight
US firms dominate the AI conversation at once, with names like Microsoft — which has invested in OpenAI — and chip maker Nvidia remaining in the top spot.
According to Macron, France doesn’t have an AI giant like the US, but he wants to create two or three “big global players” on this technology.
focuses on the rapid development of its startups. Highlighting the potential and hype surrounding the rise of artificial intelligence, four-week-old French startup Mistral AI has raised €105 million to fund the company. A number of other local startups showed off their products at Viva Tech.
Global AI regulation in the highlight
Part of France’s proposal to change into a hub for artificial intelligence leads to regulation of the technology.
The European Parliament has given the green light to the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, a far-reaching, first-of-its-kind regulation on artificial intelligence. It is just not yet a law, but when passed, it’s going to introduce a risk-based approach to regulation across the EU.
France has often been seen as a supporter of strong technology regulation – but has questioned parts of the EU’s AI law related to generative AI, a sort of technology underlying OpenAI’s ChatGPT that it considers too stringent.
“I’m concerned that in the previous couple of weeks the European Parliament … has taken a really strong stance on the regulation of artificial intelligence, in a way using this act of artificial intelligence as a way to solve too many problems without delay, Barrot, the French Minister of Digital Affairs, said about the regulations on generative artificial intelligence.
France wants global regulation of artificial intelligence, which it hopes to achieve through the G7 group, which incorporates the United States and the United Kingdom, in addition to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
“From my point of view … I feel we’d like regulation and all players, even US players, agree with that. I feel we’d like global regulation,” Macron said.
US seen as an enemy
France sees the US as each a rival and an ally. French and European firms will try to compete with US giants like Microsoft and Google, but Washington’s backing is required for any kind of global regulation.
“Competition is all the time a great thing. So we’ve a really close relationship with the US, but we also want access to our own intelligence and AI firms. So I feel having fair competition between the U.S. and Europe in addition to collaboration on some key devices is nice for the U.S. and good for Europe,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told CNBC.
“Also on the issue of regulation, I think that an in-depth discussion with the US authorities on the best way to regulate AI is completely essential.”