France to receive 109 bln euros in AI investment in coming years, Macron says

PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday night that France is set to receive a total investment of 109 billion euros (113 billion US dollars) in artificial intelligence (AI) in the coming years.

Speaking in a televised interview on public television channel France 2, Macron described the investment as the "equivalent for France of what the United States announced with 'Stargate'".

He noted that the fund will come from the United Arab Emirates, major American and Canadian investment funds, as well as French companies.

Addressing concerns over China's DeepSeek, Macron said that France has no plan to ban it at the moment. "I do not think that it's appropriate to ban a technology because of its country of origin," Macron said, adding that France does not share the US approach of restricting technologies due to its nationality while accepting others.

Amid rapid global advancement in AI, France will host the AI Action Summit in Paris on Feb 10 and 11. The summit will focus on five major themes: Public Interest AI, Future of Work, Innovation and Culture, Trust in AI, and Global AI Governance.

According to the organizer, this international summit will bring together representatives from nearly 100 countries and over a thousand private sector and civil society stakeholders. Attendees have been invited based on their commitment to AI development and their willingness to contribute to the global debate on the technology's future.