The European-style Artificial Intelligence Summit is underway , without complexes and with the determination to "give our all" and catch up with the United States and China: Emmanuel Macron is taking a stand in defense of "economic patriotism" and is pushing France and Europe towards the new frontier of AI, two years after the explosion of the ChatGPT phenomenon.
On Monday and Tuesday, under the vaults of the Grand Palais, which only 6 months ago hosted the Paris 2024 Olympic games, the Summit for Action on Artificial Intelligence is being held, co-chaired by France and India, with heads of state, government and hi-tech entrepreneurs from 100 countries around the world, starting with Sam Altman of OpenAI.
Elon Musk has not been announced for attendance , but many believe he could find a way to show up at the event. For Italy, the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso is currently expected .
Macron has already anticipated that "several groups will announce the adoption of our models, of our AI". Not only that, the final document of the summit will contain "a plan for a dozen large supercomputers dedicated to public research or available to European start-ups". Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the Commission on which the spotlight will be turned, should announce it.
The teams at the Elysée, who have been busy for weeks organizing the summit (an 'Action Summit' where ideas are exchanged and decisions are made but working in concrete terms, they stress), have in turn anticipated that the French presidency aims to create a "foundation" of general interest financed at the level of 2.5 billion euros (over 5 years) by governments, businesses and patronage operations . The objective is to "secure data, particularly those relating to health and information, and control access to them".
"It will be an extraordinary opportunity to put France and Europe at the center of the global AI map," explain the experts at the Elysée. "We do not have a single player in the game, but an ecosystem of companies."
The "third way" to AI, which must not only see the United States and China as protagonists, must have precise characteristics, according to France, the country that is positioning itself as the driving force of this European "battle for independence", as Macron defined it. "There are many of us in Europe - explain sources from the presidency on the front lines of the organization - who believe in an ethical AI, in a shared management, in a use of AI compatible with what we want to do in our politics and economy".
The two central days of the summit - with dozens of meetings, workshops and round tables at the Grand Palais - will see the arrival of the leaders on Monday, gathered in the evening at the Elysée for a dinner. The next day, the work will continue and conclude with a final document. But over a hundred events - already underway - enrich the Parisian event. At the heart of meetings and debates is the role of AI in culture, with seminars organized at the Mitterrand Library and in museums. To show the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence in the artistic field and to reassure artists and creatives who ask for "limits".
(Unioneonline/vl)
