On 10 and 11 February 2025, France is hosting the third edition of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit at the Grand Palais.
This event will bring together heads of State and Government, international organisations and companies of all sizes, representatives from academia, researchers, non-governmental organisations, artists, and other members of civil society from across the globe.
The summit discussions will focus on five major themes:
- Public Service AI
- Future of Work
- Innovation and Culture
- Trust in AI
- Global Governance of IA
Having said that here are the key announcements from the AI Action Summit
Launches “EU AI Champions” with €150B backing
On Monday, more than 60 leading European companies, from startups to established incumbents united for the launch of the “EU AI Champions Initiative.”
This initiative aims to make Europe a global leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) by promoting its development and use.
Stef van Grieken, Co-founder & CEO of Cradle, says “The EU AI Champions Initiative comes at a crucial moment – if we don’t act decisively now, we risk losing our competitive edge in these vital sectors that impact both human and planetary health. Europe has the scientific talent, the industrial base, and the regulatory experience to lead this transformation – but only if we move quickly and decisively to support innovation while maintaining appropriate safeguards.”
The initiative will be discussed with key European leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and heads of government from several countries, including Austria, Germany, and Sweden.
This effort is the first of its kind, bringing together leaders from various sectors—industry, technology, and policy—to collaborate on enhancing Europe’s position in AI.
To facilitate the growth of AI in Europe, the initiative plans to work with the European Commission and local governments to simplify the AI regulatory framework.
Furthermore, if Europe can establish a clear and competitive AI framework, over 20 major investment firms—like Balderton, Blackstone, CVC, DST Global, EQT, General Catalyst, Insight, KKR, Lightspeed, and Warburg Pincus—are ready to invest €150B in AI-related projects in Europe over the next five years.
This investment will cover various sectors, including AI technologies and the infrastructure needed to support them, highlighting the potential for significant AI advancements in Europe.
Europe is taking steps to improve its artificial intelligence (AI) landscape by creating a focused AI framework that encourages cooperation between technology, funding, and policy.
Recent insights from over 60 private sector interviews reveal a pressing need to simplify regulations, helping to foster growth while managing risks.
Instead of adding more rules, the report suggests harmonising existing laws and removing barriers that slow down AI development across the region.
To achieve this, six main recommendations have been outlined:
- Simplify Regulations: Streamline and clarify over 100 technology-related laws throughout the EU.
- Improve Data Sharing: Set up a secure environment for data sharing with consistent rules to support innovation.
- Support AI Investments: Reduce red tape and introduce measures to make financing easier for AI companies, linking investments to financial reforms.
- Develop AI Infrastructure: Promote collaboration across industries to establish common standards for technology and connectivity through public-private partnerships.
- Educate the Public: Launch a campaign to build trust in AI, improve skills, and highlight the benefits of EU-made AI products in various sectors.
Arthur Mensch, Co-Founder & CEO, of Mistral AI, says, “The EU AI Champions Initiative comes at a pivotal moment for corporate leaders to position Europe at the forefront of AI and transform our economy. The time for debate and sma l-scale pilots is over. It is now crucial for European policymakers, industry leaders, and startups to fully harness AI’s potential.”
Announces “InvestAI” to mobilise €200B
At the AI Action Summit in Paris, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen launched InvestAI, an initiative to mobilise €200B for investment in AI, including a new European fund of €20B for AI gigafactories.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says, “We want AI to be a force for good and for growth. We are doing this through our own European approach – based on openness, cooperation and excellent talent. But our approach still needs to be supercharged. This is why, together with our Member States and with our partners, we will mobilise unprecedented capital through InvestAI for European AI gigafactories. This unique public-private partnership, akin to a CERN for AI, will enable all our scientists and companies – not just the biggest – to develop the most advanced very large models needed to make Europe an AI continent.”
This large AI infrastructure is needed to allow open, collaborative development of the most complex AI models and to make Europe an AI continent.
The EU’s InvestAI fund will finance four new AI gigafactories across Europe.
These facilities will train large and complex AI models, crucial for advancements in medicine and science.
Each gigafactory will feature around 100,000 advanced AI chips, four times more than the currently planned AI factories.
The gigafactories funded through InvestAI will be the largest public-private partnership in the world for the development of trustworthy AI.
They will serve the European model of cooperative, open innovation, with a focus on complex industrial and mission-critical applications. The goal is that every company, not only the biggest players, can access large-scale computing power to build the future.
InvestAI will include a layered fund, with shares of different risk and return profiles.
The Commission’s initial funding for InvestAI will come from existing EU funding programmes that have a digital component, such as Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe, and InvestEU.
The Commission has already announced the initial seven AI factories in December and will soon announce the next five.
The existing support for AI Factories of €10B, co-financed by the EU and the Member States, is already the largest public investment in AI in the world and will unlock over ten times more private investment.
France gets €109B to boost AI sector
French President Emmanuel Macron announced an investment of €109B to strengthen France’s artificial intelligence sector.
This funding includes commitments from Canadian investment firm Brookfield for €20B in AI projects and possible financing from the United Arab Emirates amounting to €50B in the future.
Major companies have made significant pledges:
- Amazon promised over €1.2B as part of a €6B investment for cloud infrastructure in France by 2031;
- Apollo Global Management started a $5 billion funding initiative for AI energy projects;
- Digital Realty plans to invest up to €6B in data centers around Paris and Marseille;
- Equinix will invest €630M to build new data centers in Paris and Bordeaux;
- Fluidstack has signed an agreement with the French government to create a large AI supercomputer, investing €10B with a target completion by 2026;
- Mistral AI aims to build Europe’s largest supercomputer while partnering with companies like Veolia and Dassault Systèmes.
Speaking with French broadcaster TF1, Macron described the multibillion-euro pledge as “the equivalent for France of what the United States announced with Stargate,” referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s massive $500B private AI investment project.
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