Edouard Philippe, the presidential candidate of France, expressed concern during his speech at a conference on competitiveness in Paris about Europe's sluggishness in the field of artificial intelligence. He emphasized that this delay is by no means unavoidable and that action must be taken to strengthen Europe's position in this area.
The Need for Investment in Artificial Intelligence
Philippe criticized that Europe, instead of creating and developing its own technologies, has become dependent on American investments and data, stating: "Data and their processing are somewhat related to national sovereignty, and we cannot say 'it's not our fault, we will benefit from it'; we need to wake up." He believes that to prevent missed opportunities, serious attention must be paid to this issue.
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Support for Domestic Startups
Philippe also called for mobilizing European investments and allocating more resources to close the gap with global competitors. He referred to the French startup Mistral and considered it one of Europe's strengths in this field. Philippe stated that even if this startup is not completely independent, efforts must be made to strengthen domestic capabilities.
He further mentioned the decision of the German search engine Ecosia to part ways with Mistral and mocked it. He said: "If we are told that Mistral is not completely independent, I can accept that, as no one is completely self-sufficient. But if we move towards Chinese models, this will not be significant progress."
Strategic Collaborations between France and Germany
Edouard Philippe also emphasized the importance of joint cooperation between France and Germany in the field of artificial intelligence and believes that this collaboration should not hinder the development of domestic models. He stated that these two countries should collaborate on joint projects in strategic markets and avoid unproductive competition.
He also pointed to the necessity of having a global framework for regulating artificial intelligence laws and said that it should be clarified how research, development, and use of this technology should be managed. He emphasized that a lack of cooperation and the approach of "every man for himself" cannot address global challenges.
