Billionaires Xavier Niel, Rodolphe Saadé and Eric Schmidt have announced the creation of a new nonprofit synthetic intelligence think tank in Paris, marking France’s latest initiative to expand sovereign artificial intelligence technology.
Iliad de Niel and CMA CGM SA de Saadé will each invest 100 million euros ($108 million), the two entrepreneurs said on a panel at the AI-Pulse convention in Paris on Friday. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who is also present at the event, will invest an undisclosed amount through Schmidt Ventures.
The laboratory, called Kyutai, will have a total investment of 300 million euros and will produce open source research, the investors said. Some of its scientists previously worked for Google and Meta Platforms Inc. Alphabet Inc.
France favors tactics to gain a foothold in AI as countries rush to tap into the emerging generation for economic expansion and influence. Tech giants such as Microsoft Corp. , Google and Amazon. com Inc. are pouring billions of dollars into AI development, eclipsing European efforts.
Both Niel and Saadé are early investors in dynamic French company Mistral AI, a generative synthetic intelligence startup founded this year that launched its first primary language style in September. They also invested in Poolside AI, whose U. S. founders chose Paris as their base.
CMA CGM, which is suffering from a downturn in the shipping industry, plans to use AI to optimize its operations, human resources and visitor appointment tools, a corporate spokesperson told Bloomberg.
Friday’s convention included several scientists hired through the new lab. The organization includes Patrick Perez, former clinical director of Valeo SA, Neil Zeghidour and Laurent Mazare, former member of Google’s DeepMind, as well as Hervé Jégou, Edouard Grave and Alexandre Defossez, former Meta academics.