France Invests Additional $240 Million in AI, Shifts to Domestic Firms for Secure Data Analysis

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced today an additional €655 million (approximately NT$23.93 billion) investment in artificial intelligence (AI), along with plans to deploy AI chat tools for up to one million civil servants.

Lecornu made the announcement on the eve of VivaTech, Europe’s largest tech startup exhibition, which this year focuses on AI, robotics, and digital sovereignty.

He stated that the investment will support "infrastructure, computing power, research, businesses, and industrial sectors," aiming to "benefit the French people, protect national sovereignty, and strengthen public services."

According to reports from Le Figaro and franceinfo, Lecornu also announced that France’s domestic intelligence agency, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), will terminate its contract with U.S. data analytics company Palantir. Palantir’s co-founder, Peter Thiel, has close ties to former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The DGSI will instead adopt services from French firm ChapsVision. Lecornu emphasized, "We cannot accept new strategic dependencies in the digital domain." France must build "true autonomy" rather than rely on countries that could cut off France’s access to AI technologies.

Additionally, Lecornu announced the rollout of a "General Autonomous Conversational Assistant" for all civil servants. The government estimates around one million public employees will use this tool for daily operations and administrative procedures.

The deployment of this AI tool is expected to cost approximately €700,000. The government also plans to launch DiploIA, a translation tool developed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is set to go live this month.

Furthermore, the French national health insurance website Ameli will introduce an AI-powered "Public Health Assistant" to guide users in submitting their health data to government-managed AI systems, rather than foreign companies.

Lecornu also pledged to launch a new public AI platform to make public data—such as demographic, economic, geographic, and administrative information—more accessible to citizens.

To encourage AI adoption across government agencies for time and cost savings, Lecornu revealed that AI utilization will be factored into future budgetary decisions for ministries.