{"id":452783,"date":"2023-07-24T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=452783"},"modified":"2023-07-24T06:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T04:30:00","slug":"france-tries-to-claim-its-spot-in-the-ai-battlefield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/france-tries-to-claim-its-spot-in-the-ai-battlefield\/","title":{"rendered":"France tries to claim its spot in the AI battlefield"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On the stage of the <a href=\"https:\/\/vivatechnology.com\/\">VivaTech<\/a> Summit last month, French President Emmanuel Macron announced 500 million euros in funding to create AI champions and put France at the forefront of \u201cthis new industrial revolution\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"io-block io-block__summary\"><ul><li>France&#8217;s Macron announced \u20ac500 million of investments into AI. <\/li><li>As the country excels in training scientific talent, the ecosystem is helping startups to grow. <\/li><li>Meanwhile, EU regulation on AI is coming into force. <\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The package will create several regional clusters \u2013 hubs where universities and companies work together \u2013 and two or three world-class centers of AI excellence. Macron\u2019s stance is to push new AI developments in France to change the balance of an English-dominated domain.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During his speech at Europe\u2019s largest tech fair, yearly happening in Paris, Macron gave more details on the investments. \u20ac500 million \u2013 half funded by the EU \u2013 will be used to build an exascale supercomputer for training AI gigamodels. \u20ac50 million will be invested in improving the supercomputer Jean-Zay \u2013 France\u2019s most powerful supercomputer for research \u2013 and \u20ac40 million will finance a challenge on general use AI. The same sum will be spent on developing databases in French. Moreover, \u20ac200 million are for cultural projects produced digitally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Talent nurturing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2021, French Secretary of State C\u00e9dric O said that over two billion euros would have gone into French tech in the following five years, emphasizing talent training. In truth, talent is one of the strengths of the French ecosystem, per Jean-Matthieu Schertzer, a data scientist and trustworthy AI expert. \u201cMany French are part of teams behind the largest language models worldwide. It has to do with the strong tradition of mathematical and statistics teaching and research,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plan unveiled in 2021 defined several objectives regarding talent nurturing and attraction. France aimed to train and finance no less than 2000 undergraduate students, 1500 master\u2019s students, and 200 additional theses per year by 2025. Furthermore, the government&#8217;s strategy aspired to recruit 15 world-class foreign scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"vlp-link-container vlp-layout-basic wp-block-visual-link-preview-link advgb-dyn-cbcb6c4b\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/talent-shortage-remains-until-at-least-2025-labor-market-professor-says-increasing-labor-productivity-is-needed\/\" class=\"vlp-link\" title=\"Talent shortage remains until at least 2050, Labor Market professor says - increasing labor productivity is needed\"><\/a><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-side\"><div class=\"vlp-block-2 vlp-link-image\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-main\"><div class=\"vlp-block-0 vlp-link-title\">Talent shortage remains until at least 2050, Labor Market professor says &#8211; increasing labor productivity is needed<\/div><div class=\"vlp-block-1 vlp-link-summary\">A talent shortage in the Netherlands is expected to persist until 2050. So concludes Ton Wilthagen, professor of Labor Market at Tilburg University, in the new High Tech Campus Eindhoven documentary The Talent Game. <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Unicorn farm&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Like the rest of the European ecosystem, startups have easy access to funding in their early stages, while different can be said about larger rounds. \u201cThe size of the ecosystem isn\u2019t always large enough to finance larger rounds worth hundreds of millions. Therefore, companies would move to the US. However, this problem has been mitigated,\u201d Schertzer adds.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mistral AI, for instance, raised \u20ac105 million in June \u2013 a month after being set up. The company, founded by former Google and Meta researchers, will develop a new generative artificial intelligence model that will rival OpenAI and Google\u2019s DeepMind. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dataiku.com\/\">Dataiku<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shift-technology.com\/\">Shift Technology<\/a>, two other AI companies \u2013 the former created a tool for enabling machine learning on any data, and the latter an AI-based insure tech business \u2013 reached unicorn status a few years ago.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>France is now home to 27 unicorns \u2013 companies with over a billion dollars of valuation \u2013 with 8 more firms reaching this status last year &#8211; the target of having 25 unicorns was originally set for 2025.  More funding and more AI-based unicorns are also expected in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-io-blocks-bio io-block io-block__bio\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"io-block__bio-image\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.ioplus.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/JM01_small2.png\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure><div><h3 class=\"io-block__bio-name\">Jean-Matthieu Schertzer<\/h3><h4 class=\"io-block__bio-position\">Data scientist and AI expert<\/h4><p class=\"io-block__bio-description\">He worked as a data scientist for H20.ai and Quantmetry. <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Regulation&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As AI developments rampage, the EU is stepping in to introduce regulation. Last month, the Parliament voted on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.europarl.europa.eu\/news\/en\/headlines\/society\/20230601STO93804\/eu-ai-act-first-regulation-on-artificial-intelligence\">EU AI Act<\/a> legislation, with lawmakers now busy finalizing the law. In the same speech at Viva Tech, Macron called for regulations that don\u2019t slow down development. The regulation aims to strengthen rules around data quality and transparency. Most importantly, it introduces different risk levels \u2013 low to prohibited \u2013 to classify AI applications.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very complex to create links between fundamental rights and how to regulate an AI system. Still, no one has found a way to regulate them, so it\u2019s still a long way to go, but I think using this classification is the right way to tackle the problem,\u201d states Schertzer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He sees the law\u2019s rigidness as a drawback. \u201cIf a new high-risk or prohibited issue emerges, not unlikely in a fast-developing environment,&nbsp; the Commission would need to find an agreement to add it to the list of high-risk use cases,\u201d he warns. \u201cWho knows what will be needed three or four years from now? That\u2019s the general challenge for regulation, but honestly, I don\u2019t think the EU could have done much better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"vlp-link-container vlp-layout-basic wp-block-visual-link-preview-link advgb-dyn-6680b042\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/tensions-rise-over-eu-data-act-universities-and-industry-are-worried\/\" class=\"vlp-link\" title=\"Tensions rise over EU data act: Universities and industry are worried\"><\/a><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-side\"><div class=\"vlp-block-2 vlp-link-image\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-main\"><div class=\"vlp-block-0 vlp-link-title\">Tensions rise over EU data act: Universities and industry are worried<\/div><div class=\"vlp-block-1 vlp-link-summary\">The EU Data Act faces opposition from universities and industry representatives. Universities demand better access to industrial data for researchers and further policy changes. <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transparency on both ends&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In light of the new rules, developments can\u2019t inevitably be as fast, as they\u2019ll require additional and extensive documentation checks. Amid rising privacy concerns, the EU chose not to let big-tech companies self-regulate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s important to have some framework for the regulation; otherwise, responsibility will be completely shifted on users if obligations are not enforced. AI developers might say to their users that they&#8217;re fully responsible for using that tool, and they wouldn&#8217;t publish any documents, thus with a low level of transparency, which would be a big challenge for users,&#8221; the data scientist underlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Establishing a framework can assist companies in evolving their approaches and improving their ethical standards. \u201cIt helps companies set up a more pragmatic and enforceable approach to adopt while developing their technologies. However, companies will still have to wait, most likely until 2025, for the technical guidelines and details of Obligations stated in the AI Act. These details will come as so-called Harmonized Standards, yet to be produced by Standardization bodies,\u201d Schertzer clarifies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Claiming a spot&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Facing the fierce competition of other European countries \u2013 with Germany and the United Kingdom on top of the list \u2013 and American and Asian ones, the French AI ecosystem is one to watch in the years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the stage of the VivaTech Summit last month, French President Emmanuel Macron announced 500 million euros in funding to create AI champions and put France at the forefront of \u201cthis new industrial revolution\u201d.&nbsp; The package will create several regional clusters \u2013 hubs where universities and companies work together \u2013 and two or three world-class [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":495509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8553],"tags":[10373,69735,79730,71365],"location":[40146],"article_type":[36684],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-452783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital","tag-ai","tag-ai-nl-3","tag-eu-ai-act","tag-viva-technology","location-france","article_type-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"New investments will help France stay at the forefront of AI research, attempting to challenge the American dominance of the field.  ","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Mauro Mereu","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/91fe14e2-7849-40bd-bfa2-62f6c14e5893.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/digital\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Digital<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Digital<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/digital\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">AI<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/digital\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">AI<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/digital\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">EU AI act<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/digital\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Viva Technology<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">AI<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">AI<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">EU AI act<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Viva Technology<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on July 24, 2023","modified":"Updated on July 24, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on July 24, 2023 6:30 am","modified":"Updated on July 24, 2023 6:30 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452783"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=452783"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=452783"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=452783"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=452783"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=452783"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=452783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}