Context: In September 2023, the French government decided to create an interministerial expert commission on AI (French government webpage). Last month, French antitrust agency Autorité de la concurrence (Adlc) launched a consultation on AI-related markets (February 8, 2024 ai fray article).
What’s new: Today the expert group published its report on, and recommended policy measures relating to, AI (French government webpage). The program describes AI as a threat to and an opportunity for France (and Europe in general). It warns that Europe must not allow itself to fall behind further. The more positive aspect, subject to urgent and long-term action being taken, is that it may help to double the country’s economic growth by a higher degree of automation of routine tasks.
Direct impact: The formal recipient of the report is French president Emmanuel Macron, who is known to prioritize AI policy with a particular focus on economic opportunities. With Mistral, France has one of only two European AI startups of the highest profile.
Wider ramifications: The report looks beyond France and believes that there is also a need for more AI-related policy measures at the European level. The EU will soon enter into a new term, and if the report’s principal recommendations are adopted, it is likely that France will use its influence at the EU level to push for more growth-oriented AI policies, while the EU’s AI Act, which was adopted by the European Parliament today, places the emphasis on prohibitions and bureaucracy.
The 130-page report (PDF) released today is an urgent call to action based on a 360° view that covers the positive aspects of AI as well as potential risks and, especially, the challenge that France and, more generally, Europe are facing because other parts of the world are further along. For instance, the report notes that Europe not only doesn’t have any Big Tech company, but it’s even absent from the list of tier 2 companies like Adobe:
“The digital economy is two to three times weaker in Europe than in the US, and AI is following the same path. Of the 100 largest-cap technology companies at the end of 2023, 10 are European. The problem is not only that Europe doesn’t produce any digital giants, but also that it doesn’t produce any second or third tier companies: neither Adobe, Uber, AirBnB, Shopify nor Stripe are European, even though their biggest markets or founders are European.”
The document also talks about the possibility of identifying new opportunities in connection with AI, such as by focusing on energy-efficient AI solutions.
Such reports are often commissioned by reports in order to receive advice that supports preconceived policy plans. In this case, the expert group is large and diverse, and its findings and recommendations are convincing. This does not look like a study that was conducted only to justify that which was going to happen anyway. But the report is consistent with how the French head of state appears to view the situation.
To be fair, consultation documents and reports by competition “watchdogs” can’t be compared to an initiative like this. In the antitrust context, the focus must obviously be on potential market distortions and on market concentration. A policy report like the one released today has a broader focus and its authors can recommend measures that go beyond what can be achieved with the powerful but limited toolbox of competition enforcers.
With respect to economic growth, the report says that temporarily there could be faster growth than otherwise, but at some point it would go back to normal:
“Provided we deploy and steer AI, it should increase collective prosperity and can contribute to improving the quality of work and reducing inequalities. According to our analysis, France’s annual economic growth could double thanks to the automation of certain tasks After ten years, the increase in GDP would be between €250 and €420 billion This would be like adding a second industrial sector However, this increase would be temporary: once AI has been adopted by the entire economic fabric, there would be no further productivity gains to expect.”
The period of increased growth could actually be longer than one would think now, as AI continues to make rapid progress in parallel to adoption. The range of tasks that can be automated will, therefore, also change along the way.
The report calls for a “collective, massive, immediate and long-term mobilization.” It’s not just about raising awareness, but also about training people to use AI.
The second of the highest-priority recommendations is a 10 billion euro “France & AI” fund “to finance the emergence of the AI ecosystem and the transformation of the French economic fabric.”
Other goals include making France “a major location for computing power” and to use more French and other European material to train AI models while respecting intellectual property (France is traditionally very copyright-friendly). The expert group also wants to provide better working conditions to AI experts in French academia: “freeing researchers from administrative constraints, upgrading their remuneration, doubling the resources of public research specialized in AI.”
There is also a global ambition that would require France to bring international partners on board: “create a World AI Organization to evaluate and oversee AI systems, an International AI Fund to serve the public interest, and a ‘1% AI’ solidarity mechanism for developing countries.”
The report asks the rhetorical question what it’s worth to take control of the future of France.
There’ll be winners and there’ll be losers. The report says:
“The main benefits will accrue only to those countries that give themselves the means to master AI. To date, France and Europe are lagging behind.”
Europe’s digital weakness means that “France and Europe run the risk of rapid economic decline.”
It may or may not be a coincidence that the report was released on the same day that the European Parliament adopted the EU’s AI Act (which will now be rubberstamped by the governments of the EU member states). From ai fray‘s perspective, the work that French government agencies and their external experts are doing on AI is very competent, and the situation indeed warrants calls for urgent and well-resourced action.