French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to accelerate the development of the infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence at an international summit in Paris on Monday, February 10, where he also called for a so-called “Notre Dame strategy” to catch up with competitors, referring to the record-breaking restoration of the Paris cathedral, which was partially destroyed by fire in 2019.
“I mentioned to investors that we will use the Notre Dame strategy,” the French president said on the first day of the AI Action Summit, at the end of a roundtable discussion with a number of industry and civil society figures.
“We have shown the world that we can do this with a clear timetable,” Macron added, referring to the reconstruction of Notre Dame, which took just five years. Macron called for “simplification of procedures” and simplification of governance.
He promised to speed up procedures, especially in the area of creating data centers to run artificial intelligence models, and once again praised France's potential, recalling that nuclear energy would provide "low-carbon energy" for the giant data centers that provide the computing power needed for artificial intelligence. The French president called for European convergence in the face of the industrial dominance of US and Chinese technology players, and welcomed the progress France has made so far.
"It is time to wake up and develop a European strategy," Macron said.
The French president announced on Sunday, February 9, that French and foreign investors will invest 109 billion euros in artificial intelligence in France in the coming years.
