Purchase of a supercomputer, research laboratory and “reference” European conference on artificial intelligence: Xavier Niel, (individual shareholder of Le Monde) owner of the Iliad technology group, announced on Tuesday September 26 “strategic investments” in artificial intelligence (AI), estimated “around 200 million euros”.

This funding, which aims to create “a European champion of AI” capable of offering a wide range of services to companies wishing to develop their own applications in the field, comes while Europe is until now very largely overtaken by the United States in the race for artificial intelligence, where the major American groups Google, Microsoft and Meta are investing billions of dollars.

“For artificial intelligence to work, you need three things: researchers, computing power and companies that exploit all of that,” summarizes Xavier Niel, in an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) .

“We really need that, to be sure to have things coming out of here (…), to not have all of our data going elsewhere, so that AI does not depend on algorithms not created here and which are not European,” he explains.

“We don’t want to have algorithms for our children that rely on our American or Chinese friends. They are fantastic, but we perhaps do not have the same rules or the same practices (…). We want our algorithms to follow our rules, with our operating method,” he continues.

To achieve this objective, Iliad acquired a supercomputer from Nvidia, the American processor specialist, to provide Scaleway, its cloud computing services subsidiary, with “the greatest computing power” on the continent.

“This investment represents a first step for the group”, according to the company, which does not rule out an increase in power in the field, given the “colossal” demand.

“Reference” European conference

Iliad also announced on Tuesday the creation of a research laboratory of excellence in AI in Paris, already endowed with “more than 100 million euros”, with the mission of constructing and democratizing “general artificial intelligence”. .

Although the company does not reveal the names of the members of the research team, it says it has already formed a group of researchers “internationally recognized” for their expertise in the field and who have been working “for around ten years within the largest international players in the market”.

While the competition rages to attract AI talent, the challenge is “how can we succeed in convincing them? What can we promise them to make them come? », insists Xavier Niel, while Meta has appointed the Frenchman Yann Le Cun at the head of its artificial intelligence laboratory.

In France, “we have the best schools for doing research and all Americans will tell you that,” recalls Xavier Niel, referring to the Ecole Polytechnique or the Ecole Normale Supérieure.

In this race to build a French AI ecosystem, Xavier Niel has already invested, through his various entities, “around ten million euros combined” in the most promising start-ups in the sector. , where there are “incredible research teams, geniuses,” according to him.

For example, he participated in the funding round carried out by Mistral AI, a French “young start-up” created by big names in the sector, which had raised 105 million euros, a record for a French AI start-up.

Iliad will also organize its first European conference on AI, which aims to become “the benchmark annual event” on this subject in Europe. The first edition is scheduled to take place on November 17 at Station F, the world’s largest start-up incubator in Paris, founded in 2017 by Mr. Niel.