French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced in Paris that 109 billion euros will be invested in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) over the next few years. This plan was unveiled during the AI Action Summit in Paris, which attracted numerous global leaders and executives from AI companies, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The release of this investment plan demonstrates Europe's desire to secure a foothold in the rapidly evolving AI industry, especially in the face of strong competition from the United States and China.
Image Source Note: Image generated by AI, image licensed by Midjourney
In an interview with France 2, Macron stated that France's investment plan is comparable to the U.S. "Gateway" project, which is led by OpenAI and SoftBank with an investment scale of up to 500 billion dollars. Meanwhile, major tech companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta have raised a total of 300 billion dollars for AI-related capital expenditures this year. Chinese companies such as DeepSeek have also made significant progress in developing low-cost AI models, while Huawei has intensified competition with market leader Nvidia in the chip sector.
To this end, Macron emphasized, "Europe and France must accelerate their investment pace." Additionally, the UAE announced it will invest up to 50 billion euros to build a data center campus in France. The initial funding will come from the MGX fund in Abu Dhabi, which is also one of the 100 billion dollar investment tools participating in the "Gateway" project. Meanwhile, Canadian asset management company Brookfield also announced it will support the deployment of AI infrastructure in France with an investment of 20 billion euros.
The Paris summit will also establish a non-profit investment fund called "Current AI," aimed at further promoting the development of "public interest AI," such as creating privacy-friendly anonymous medical data for AI projects. It is expected to raise 2.5 billion euros in funding over the next five years.
For a long time, European startups have been at a disadvantage in competition with their American and Chinese counterparts, mainly due to insufficient funding, lack of computing power, and ambiguity in applying relevant regulations. Macron hopes to demonstrate France's ability to influence global issues through this summit and calls for Europe to develop its own AI platforms and applications to reduce dependence on innovations from the U.S. and China.
At the summit, Macron and co-host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will advocate for the development of open and shared AI platforms, rather than relying solely on closed products from companies like OpenAI and Google. Meta's Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun also noted that the closed models of American companies have a certain sense of superiority, emphasizing that the open AI world is rapidly catching up with them.
Key Points:
🌍 Macron announced an investment of 109 billion euros for AI development in France over the next few years.
🤝 The UAE and Canadian asset management company also announced significant investments in AI infrastructure.
💡 The Paris summit will promote open and shared AI platforms to reduce reliance on U.S. and Chinese technology.