France will invest 1.5 billion euros ($1.85 billion) in research and development of artificial intelligence (AI) until 2022, the Elysée presidency announced on Thursday.
French President Emmanuel Macron will announce his new AI strategy at the College de France Research Institute in Paris later Thursday.
Macron has said he doesn’t want France to « miss the AI boat » by introducing measures intended to compete with the United States and China, the current world leaders in AI technology. He also said he wants to make sure France adopts ethical measures to regulate the industry.
The new proposals aim, in part, to attract more top researchers to the country. Tech giants including Samsung, Google and Fujitsu have already announced plans to create new AI centers in France.
Microsoft is already investing in French AI
Microsoft, which has pledged to invest $30 million in France, opened France’s first AI school in Paris earlier this month to train students for jobs of the future with a free seven-month course. The school plans to educate 400,000 students over the next three years.
It is hoped that investments in this high-tech training will help offset the expected job losses in the field of artificial intelligence over the next few years. By 2030, most of the world is expected to be employed in new technology industries.
Video: France unveils its plans to revive the artificial intelligence industry
The French government is focusing on a multi-pronged strategy to boost its AI industry by focusing on four sectors: defence, health, transport and environment.
The new proposals follow months of interviews with AI experts around the world by star mathematician Cedric Villani, now a lawmaker in Macron’s La République en Marche (LREM) party.
The Villani report, presented on Wednesday, calls for doubling the salaries of young researchers and engineers and tripling the number of students specializing in artificial intelligence over the next three years.
Macron hosted a dinner on Wednesday for a dozen AI specialists and industry leaders, including Yann LeCun, the New York-based Frenchman who until recently ran Facebook’s AI Research Lab, and Demis Hassabis of Britain’s DeepMind – creator of the AlphaGo system which beat a master player at the Chinese game « Go » in 2016 and which will open its first European research center in France.
“Much of the discussion has focused on how best to support the enormous changes made possible by artificial intelligence and their ethical implications, and to ensure that they are beneficial to humanity,” Marie said. -Paule Cani, who will occupy Google’s new artificial intelligence chair, during the evening’s discussions.
But some say the new measures are unlikely to be enough.
« In terms of artificial intelligence, France has some strengths but huge weaknesses compared to the United States and China, » said Laurent Alexandre, an expert in artificial intelligence.
« They are miles ahead of us. »