PARIS – France hosts top tech players next week at an artificial intelligence summit meant as a “wake-up call” for Europe as it struggles with AI challenges from the United States and China.
Players from across the sector and representatives from 80 nations will gather in the French capital on February 10 and 11 in the sumptuous Grand Palais, built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition.
In the run-up, President Emmanuel Macron will on February 4 visit research centres applying AI to science and health, before hosting scientists and Nobel Prize winners at his Elysee Palace residence on Wednesday.
A wider science conference will be held at the Polytechnique engineering school on Thursday and Friday.
“The summit comes at exactly the right time for this wake-up call for France and Europe, and to show we are in position” to take advantage of the technology, an official in Macron’s office told reporters.
In recent weeks, Washington’s announcement of $500 billion in investment to build up AI infrastructure and the release of a frugal but powerful generative AI model by Chinese firm DeepSeek have focussed minds in Europe.
France must “not let this revolution pass it by”, Macron’s office said.