Europeans, caught up in speed, hope for revenge in specialized AI, according to experts (AFP/Archives/Lionel BONAVENTURE)
After a wild streak that saw Microsoft launch a new version of chatGPT, Google open up its AI rival Bard to the public, and Meta refocus on AI, the Europeans, caught up in speed, are hoping for revenge in specialized AI, according to experts.
As with search engines, Europe “missed” the first train of artificial intelligence, sighs Françoise Soulié-Fogelman, a pioneer in the sector in France.
“We’re not going to do another GPT chat. We don’t have these big companies with huge resources. On the general public, we lost. On the companies, it’s a little different, we have some big technology companies and talents, which the Gafa are stealing from us. It’s a war, we have to find crumbs elsewhere”, launches the scientific adviser of Hub France IA, which brings together a hundred companies.
Same analysis for Paul-François Fournier, innovation director of Bpifrance. “The United States has taken a preponderant place but we will have applications intended for industrial verticals where Europe has strong positions, such as aeronautics or the automobile”.
“A company will not be able to use chatGPT for specialized use. And its data would end up on their server. It must be able to + fine tune + (adjust) an open source model (free access) by training it on its own data”, adds Françoise Soulié-Fogelman.
“It is possible to build global European champions,” former Meta AI director Antoine Bordes, who joined German military AI company Helsing last week, told BFMTV.
Thus the ambitious start-up LightOn launched Friday a kind of ChatGPT tailor-made for companies. Illuin Technology, a language expert, offers hospitals AI to analyze conversations with patients.
NVidia, champion of superchips for AI, announced this week the launch of a “template factory” to allow each company to create its own AI (Getty/AFP/Archives/Ethan Miller)
In this area too the Europeans will face giants.
NVidia, champion of superchips for AI, announced this week the launch of a “template factory” to allow each company to create its own AI.
IBM promises companies to “frame the data” for specialized AIs.
– New French plan –
The EU has planned to devote €10 billion of its budget to AI between 2014 and 2027 and its 2021 AI plan foresees public and private investments of €20 billion per year over ten years.
Europe nevertheless remains far from the hundreds of billions invested by the Chinese and the Americans.
Europe nevertheless remains far from the hundreds of billions invested by the Chinese and the Americans in AI (AFP/Archives/Lionel BONAVENTURE)
“What OpenAI and Microsoft or Meta invest each year in AI represents more than what France invests in one year. And more than all that Europe invests in research”, regretted Tuesday the ex- boss of Publicis Maurice Lévy.
Even the European Court of Auditors is worried. She launched an audit on Monday to determine whether the European Commission’s investments will allow Europe to rise to the rank of world leader.
– “Buffer” –
However, Europe has a powerful weapon: the future AI Act, the first global regulation in the world. Objective, to protect its citizens, their privacy and democracy. A first draft could be voted on in the European Parliament in April, for application in 2025.
European Commissioner for Industry Thierry Breton during a press conference on Artificial Intelligence, April 21, 2021 in Brussels (POOL/AFP/Archives/-)
The principle is that of prior certification for all AIs classified as “high risk”, a category that is still unclear – the case of generative AIs remains to be decided. Without this sesame, they will be banned in Europe.
This shield can curb American and Chinese appetites but just as much European innovations.
“The Commission has estimated the cost of this certification at 300,000 euros”, warns Anissa Kemiche, who represents the French professional federation Numeum in Brussels.
“You will have to have the stamp to be put on the market. It’s the opposite approach to those of the Americans… Google and Microsoft will arrive with a thousand lawyers, but how will the small start-up do?” insists Françoise Soulié-Fogelman. They will probably have a time limit for experimentation, known as a “sandbox”.
“These regulations can help create an entire local ecosystem, with the supply of chips and local AI”, notes the general manager of Intel France, Erwan Montaux. Intel will open a 20 billion euro semiconductor mega-factory in Germany in 2024.
© 2023 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends with the buttons below.
