France powers ahead in AI development, with more funding, public service tools
The French prime minister said France's responsibility must be to "protect its sovereignty" and "strengthen public services" in the race to develop digital technology.
"We cannot accept new strategic dependencies in the digital realm," he explained, expressing his desire to "build genuine autonomy" so as not to "depend on the goodwill of certain partners, capable (...) of cutting off access" to AI.
Speaking in a video message on Tuesday, Lecornu announced an additional €655 million of new public investment to develop the country's own artificial intelligence.
The announcement came just ahead of Paris's VivaTech trade fair which opens on Wednesday.
The France 2030 public investment program for innovation will "support infrastructure, computing power, research, businesses, and industrial sectors," he said.
AI, robots, and digital sovereignty in the face of American and Chinese tech giants will be the focus of the 10th edition of the trade show, which runs until Saturday.
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Lecornu stressed that France must not rely on tools developed by foreign powers because "state data is our wealth and must remain protected."
Lecornu also announced that the French domestic intelligence agency (DGSI) had decided to sever ties with the American data analytics giant Palantir, whose co-founder Peter Thiel is close to US President Donald Trump.
The decision to end the contract with Palantir follows Washington's move last week to cut off access to AI firm Anthropic's powerful Fable model to non-American users over security concerns.
France should "not depend on the good will of certain partners, who are capable of turning off the access tap" for artificial intelligence, Lecornu said.
The Fable incident prompted calls for greater independence from the United States in AI development from candidates across the political spectrum for next year's French presidential election.
The French government is also looking to improve government services with AI which "will now be taken into account in budget decisions" for 2027, Lecornu said.
Public service boost
The government will also begin rolling out a chatbot using AI to one million civil servants (out of a total of 2.6 million), following a trial with 10,000 of them, according to the Ministry of Public Action and Accounts.
The installation of this tool, called the Assistant and powered by models from the French AI startup Mistral, is expected to cost around €700,000. Negotiations with unions are scheduled to begin at the end of the week.
This tool could help streamline the management of certain legal procedures or assist research professors with their grant applications.
The government hopes, in particular, to reduce the use of "clandestine" AI tools that can pose security risks.
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These announcements come in the context of a reorganisation of the government's digital services, following a major cyberattack targeting the National Agency for Secure Documents (ANTS), which affected the data of nearly 12 million users.
In mid-May, the government announced the upcoming creation of a new State Digital and Artificial Intelligence Authority, alongside the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI).
The Ministries of Justice and the Interior will also have access, "starting this year," to the "most advanced" technologies of the GenIAl portal, already used by the armed forces, in order to "process sensitive data" and "speed up visa processing."
In the area of healthcare, the Ameli website of the national health insurance system will feature an AI-powered "public health assistant" to better guide patients.
(with newswires)