Macron demands French AI 'champions'

French President Emmanuel Macron made a pitch for France to become a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) as he spoke at VivaTech in Paris, one of Europe's biggest technology trade shows. He announced 543 million USD in new funding to "create champions" in AI and praised projects targeting French speakers.

More than 2,000 firms are displaying at VivaTech, which runs from Wednesday to Saturday, with products ranging from augmented-reality ski masks to an AI-animated bot. Twitter and Tesla boss Elon Musk is scheduled to appear at VivaTech on Friday, when he is likely to talk about his company Neuralink, which recently won US approval for human testing of technology that uses implants to link brains with computers.