France will invest more money into artificial intelligence (AI) and green technologies to counter China and US dominance, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday (14 June), detailing his strategic vision.

Speaking at VivaTechnology, an annual business event showcasing French, European and global tech innovation, Macron laid out his plans to mobilise funding to support the development of AI, and announced over €7 billion worth of fresh money for top-of-the-range French technologies.

The president’s comments come on the same day as the AI Act, the EU’s flagship initiative to regulate the technology based on its capacity to cause harm, moved to the final stage of the legislative process.

Artificial Intelligence

There is insufficient private liquid capital in Europe allocated to new technologies, Macron said at the event.

The French prefer to invest their savings in low-risk investments, he noted, giving private and public entities less financial firepower for risky investments.

As such, the president announced a batch of new cash for AI investments and an upgrade of French AI capacities.

This includes a €500 million package to create between five and 10 AI clusters, €40 million to attract investment in generative AI and two state subsidies of €50 million and €500 million each to accelerate the capacity of supercomputers.

Macron also presented the ‘Tibi 2’ program, where institutional investors, operating €‎5,000 billion of French citizen savings, pledged to re-direct some €‎7 billion of that money to the real economy.

Using the leverage effect of this money in investment funds, Macron hopes to create €35-40 billion euros of concrete investments.

AI Act

The announcements came on the same day as the EU’s AI Act moved to the final stage of the legislative process. Earlier that day, the Minister for the Digital Economy, Jean-Noël Barrot, had been vocal that too strict a regulation might hinder AI innovation.

Macron repeated this position while referencing the currently debated AI Act, stating that he favoured a regulation “protecting our values”, which he defined as prohibiting “racists or antisemite biases”.

Arthur Mensch, the founder of Mistral AI, which raised €105 million, echoed Macron’s concerns about the AI Act. “As it stands, regulation runs a high risk of hampering innovation,” Mensch said.

Re-industrialisation

Macron rooted his remarks in what he described as a global context of protectionism, which disrupts global competition. Indeed, China has been accused of heavily subsidising its green industries, while the United States passed a mega-package of subsidies and tax breaks last year, better known as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

A European Commission report published in February noted that China mobilised €260 billion for its green industries, while the USA mobilised €330 billion. Alongside these, many of the world’s heavyweight economies are also subsidising the green transformation, with Japan reportedly raising up to €140 billion.

In terms of subsidies, “the United Kingdom does a bit better than France”, Macron said – making clear that both France and the EU as a whole are lagging behind the USA and China.

He went on to showcase his “France 2030” investment and state aid strategy, worth €54 billion, €18 billion of which have already been spent on over 2,800 projects of critical importance to the country’s sovereignty and ‘autonomy strategy’.

Talent and inclusion

Lastly, Macron insisted on tapping into talents to support the development of new technologies – but fell short of making any big announcements.

This was disappointing to many, including Caroline Ramade, Founder and CEO at 50inTech, an association fighting for a gender-equal representation of women in tech, who hoped to hear new plans to fight gender imbalance in tech.

She warned EURACTIV of major risks associated with male-dominated AI coding, and the reliance on often-biased datasets.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is expected to make dedicated announcements on gender balance in the tech industry on Friday (16 June).

[Edited by Luca Bertuzzi/Théo Bourgery-Gonse/Nathalie Weatherald]

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