France is reaching for the stars in artificial intelligence

Noah Greene from the AI Safety and Stability Project at Washington-based think tank Center for a New American Security (CNAS) says the French government "flipped a switch" when it decided to become an AI champion. But making that ambition a reality might be an uphill struggle, he told DW.

With the United States being the clear AI market leader, and China coming second ahead of the UK, the backlog of EU leaders France and Germany was not only down to technological factors, he said. "The US has been at the top of the game for so long that investors prefer to put their money here, as they know the institutional talent and infrastructure already exist."

France meanwhile has a "very complex labor code and large US tech firms like Google have struggled at times to get past these laws," he added.

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Greene, however, isn't so sure that Europe will be able to use its potential. "The US has been implementing a 'laissez-faire' policy and putting in place as few hurdles as possible. The EU, by contrast, is aiming to become one of the leaders in the regulation of the technology to protect fundamental rights."

And indeed, in March the European Parliament adopted a so-called AI Act that bans the development of certain AI technologies deemed too dangerous. Greene argues that only AI technology leaders will be able to "control the keys to the castle and decide how autocracies will use these products."

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