Macron: 'On artificial intelligence strategic competition. Responsibility is needed"
The French President spoke at the India AI Impact Summit to call for 'cooperation based on mutual respect'. Gates defers over Epstein case
from our correspondent Marco Masciaga
NEW DELHI - During his eagerly awaited speech at the India AI Impact Summit, French President Emmanuel Macron sought to outline a future in which Sino-US hegemony in artificial intelligence will have to contend with a model capable of combining "innovation and responsibility, technology and humanity".
In his speech, punctuated with references to the progress made by India in creating a digitalisation model based on inclusiveness, Macron recalled how artificial intelligence has rapidly become the terrain of strategic competition, and emphasised the importance of 'cooperation based on mutual respect' in which France and India can play a crucial role, in a context of 'efficient multilateralism'.
A position aligned with India's, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi explained a few minutes later. "Some countries and companies consider artificial intelligence a strategic asset. But India believes that AI will only be truly useful to the world if it is shared and with open codes," said the premier, without - despite the international audience - refraining from expressing himself in Hindi.
While speaking of inclusiveness, the French president emphasised that it is "fundamental to ensure that everyone has access to the benefits of artificial intelligence" and in outlining the role of Europe, in the absence of continental champions to contrast with the American and Chinese biggies, he sought to dispel the clichéof an EU "blindly obsessed" with regulatory aspects, presenting it as "a safe space".
On the subject of rules, Macron reiterated his intention to prohibit access to social networks by those under 15 years of age and announced that he intends to make this one of the priorities of the French presidency of the G7. A position, that of the French president, which also extends to the world of artificial intelligence, and which will put him on a collision course with the United States of Donald Trump. During his trip to India, Macron described the choice of many social networks to appeal to freedom of expression so as not to have to account for the content they convey as 'pure bullshit'.
