We knew that Microsoft was betting big on AI since its massive investments in OpenAI. But the firm also has high hopes for French-style AI specifically.
A fertile land for the development of AI for a long time, France continues to attract the attention of big names in the sector. In an interview with Le Figaro on May 12, 2024, the CEO of Microsoft announced his desire to “train a million French people» to the use of AI by 2027, in particular for “use generative AI in daily life” or for “strengthen the skills of IT developers» in the field, explains the manager.
Partnerships in higher education and at France Travail
Concretely, this will involve training provided by France Travail, by the startup Simplon (specializing in digital professions) and by partnerships established with several business schools. Among them, we find in particular the EDHEC of Roubaix, Skema and even Rennes Business School, we learn from Le Figaro.
Brad Smith’s ads aren’t exactly new. Already in March 2024, Microsoft announced the launch of a major campaign nicknamed “Your AI” which aimed to train 100,000 French people in the use of artificial intelligence in 2024 alone. Microsoft therefore above all wants to pass the second by considerably increasing the number of people trained in France in the coming years. It remains to be seen the quality of the training and their usefulness outside of Microsoft’s AI ecosystem.
France attracts desire
It is not completely by chance that Microsoft is so involved in the development of AI in France. For many years now the country has positioned itself as a major player in artificial intelligence with massive investments (1.5 billion euros in public aid in 2022) and a plethora of more or less successful startups which have raised 3, 5 billion euros in 2022. A status which recently pushed Google to open a research laboratory dedicated to AI in the heart of Paris and to make similar announcements concerning the training of new AI specialists. ‘AI.
Microsoft therefore knows where it is going and is investing, in turn, in its own financial future. The French nugget Mistral AI, which develops the chatbot Le Chat, was emotionally financed to the tune of 15 million euros by Microsoft, which now holds shares in the French startup. Strengthening the development of AI in France while winning the good graces of future engineers in the field is therefore a win-win bet for the company.
Source : Le Figaro
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