France will invest an additional €655 million to boost domestic artificial intelligence development, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced Tuesday in a video statement. The funding will support computing infrastructure, research, businesses, and public services under the France 2030 innovation program. Lecornu emphasized the need for digital sovereignty, stating France must not depend on foreign powers whose interests may override access to critical AI tools. He cited the recent U.S. decision to restrict non-American users from accessing Anthropic's Fable AI model as evidence of such vulnerability.
The French government will deploy an AI chatbot called Assistant, powered by French startup Mistral, to one million civil servants by the end of the year. The rollout follows a successful trial involving 10,000 public employees and is expected to cost approximately €700,000. The tool aims to streamline administrative tasks such as legal procedures and grant applications while reducing reliance on unauthorized AI platforms. Negotiations with public sector unions will begin at the end of the week.
Lecornu confirmed that the domestic intelligence agency DGSI has terminated its contract with U.S. data analytics firm Palantir, whose co-founder Peter Thiel has ties to former U.S. President Donald Trump. The move aligns with broader efforts to insulate French state data from foreign influence. A new State Digital and Artificial Intelligence Authority is set to launch soon alongside ANSSI, following a cyberattack on the National Agency for Secure Documents that compromised data of nearly 12 million users. Ministries of Justice and the Interior will gain access this year to the GenIAl portal's advanced AI tools, previously used only by the armed forces, to process sensitive data and accelerate visa decisions. The healthcare platform Ameli will also integrate AI to improve service delivery.
France is cutting ties with a U.S. AI firm linked to Donald Trump while redirecting millions toward homegrown technology, framing digital independence as a national priority. The decision follows Washington's restriction of AI access to non-Americans, exposing the fragility of relying on foreign tech partnerships. By investing in domestic startups like Mistral and building state-controlled AI infrastructure, France is treating data sovereignty as a core function of governance. This shift signals that technological self-reliance is no longer optional for nations seeking full control over their public systems.
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