France is positioning itself as Europe’s leading hub for artificial intelligence (AI), with French President Emmanuel Macron stating that he believes France is the number one country in AI in continental Europe. The French government is backing the country’s tech push, with the aim to create two or three “big global players” in AI. Macron states that France is well-positioned in AI due to its access to talent and start-ups forming around the technology, and while the US is seen as the leader in AI, France hopes to catch up.
At France’s annual technology conference Viva Tech, Macron, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and Digital Minister Jean-Noel Barrot attended the event, adding the government’s backing to France’s tech push. The French President believes that France needs to accelerate its AI efforts to bridge the gap with the US. While France definitely has a chance to be the leader in Europe, it faces stiff competition from Germany and the UK.
France’s Approach to AI Regulation
Part of France’s pitch to be an AI hub leads on regulation around the technology. The European Parliament greenlit the EU AI Act, a wide-sweeping first-of-its-kind regulation on artificial intelligence. It is not yet law, but, if passed, would bring a risk-based approach to regulation across the EU. France has typically been seen as a proponent of strong regulation on technology, but it has taken issue with parts of the EU AI Act related to generative AI, the type of technology that underpins OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which it sees as too stringent.
France desires a global regulation on AI, which it hopes to achieve through the G7 group that includes the US and Britain, as well as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. French and European companies will try to compete with US giants like Microsoft and Google, but Washington’s buy-in is required for any kind of global regulation.
While France sees the US as both a rival and an ally, it believes that having fair competition between the US and Europe is good for both regions. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire states that it is vital to have an in-depth discussion with the American authorities on the best way of regulating artificial intelligence. France hopes to use AI to build on the economic areas it’s already strong in, such as manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.
France’s AI ambitions are underpinned with the government’s backing to invest like crazy on training and research to create two or three big global players in AI. While the US currently dominates the conversation around AI, France is hoping its startups will grow quickly. The potential and hype of AI developments were underscored by four-week-old French startup Mistral AI raising 105 million euros to fund the company.
France is making a major push to position itself as Europe’s hub for artificial intelligence, throwing its weight behind the fast-growing and much-hyped technology. Macron believes that France is the number one country in AI in continental Europe and wants to accelerate the country’s AI efforts to bridge the gap with the US, which is seen as the leader in AI by many measures. France desires a global regulation on AI, which it hopes to achieve through the G7 group and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The French government is backing the country’s tech push, with the aim to create two or three “big global players” in AI.
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