Macron says France will apply ‘Notre Dame strategy’ on AI

On the opening day of an AI summit in Paris co-hosted by India, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday a European AI strategy would be unveiled the following day at the event.

He declared that France was in the race for artificial intelligence development and called on attendees to choose Europe — broadly seen as lagging far behind the US and China in the sector — for their business needs.

Speaking in English, he said “we will adopt the Notre Dame de Paris strategy” on AI projects that saw France rebuild the renowned cathedral in just five years after a devastating 2019 fire.

“We showed the rest of the world that when we commit to a clear timeline we can deliver,” Macron said at the Grand Palais in Paris.

“You decide, you streamline all the procedures, somebody is in charge,” he said.

Macron made repeated reference to French plans to invest €109 billion (roughly $113 billion) in AI in the coming years.

Clean nuclear power another boon, Macron argues

Macron also said France’s status as Europe’s largest nuclear power producer, with some of the lowest carbon emissions on the continent for electricity generation, also made it the ideal site for an industry demanding enormous amounts of power.

“I have a good friend on the other side of the ocean saying ‘drill, baby, drill,'” Macron said, seemingly in reference to Donald Trump. “Here, there is no need to drill. It’s plug, baby, plug.”

Co-host India, Vance’s first major international outing

The Artifiical Intelligence Action Summit’s co-host nation is India, with Narendra Modi among the high-profile guests expected in Paris on Tuesday.

Industry giants like Google CEO Sundar Pichai and OpenAI boss Sam Altman, whose company is behind ChatGPT, will also be at the event.

Pichai told the audience on Monday that the technological shift to AI was set to be “the biggest of our lifetimes.”

“We have the chance to democratize access from the start,” he added.

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing will also attend, while the event will be new US Vice President JD Vance’s first foray onto the European stage since taking up his new role.

Vance will then move on to the Munich Security Conference in Germany, an event he also attended last year, making waves as he outlined expectations for Europe to contribute more to defense spending and NATO — messages that seem likely to crop up more during Trump’s second term in the US.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn