A French telecom juggernaut, Iliad, has stirred up significant waves of excitement in the French artificial intelligence (AI) realm. The telecom firm recently unveiled ambitious plans of bolstering the local AI sector, fueled by an extravagant investment estimated around $106 million USD. This massive expenditure is billed towards the establishment of a compelling ‘excellence lab’ right within the bustling locales of Paris. This high-tech laboratory is intended to foster cutting-edge AI research, with the guidance of eminent researchers and Iliad chairman, Xavier Niel at the helm.
While Niel emphasizes the necessity of crafting a comprehensive ecosystem within France for AI, skeptics raise an eyebrow at the ambitious claim of making AI research publicly available. Notwithstanding this skepticism, the AI research lab is set to focus on designing general AI, thereby widening the range of access for all.
Emerging details of the project suggest more than just a lab; Iliad has reportedly acquired a supercomputer engineered by NVIDIA, touted as the ‘most powerful cloud-native AI supercomputer’ currently available in Europe. This supermachine is expected to exponentially enhance the computing power of Iliad, drawing us to the significant link between AI market dominance and supercomputers highlighted by Niel.
Indeed, the relevance of investing massively in supercomputers is underscored by the intended use of the NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD – to swiftly train vast language models. Furthermore, the Iliad subsidiary, Scaleway plans to offer its clientele are array of cloud-native AI tools, propelling their competitive standings within the global AI market.
Iliad’s investment pegs itself as an important development within the French AI industry and, possibly, the entire European region. The initiative by Iliad has come on the heels of a remarkable announcement from the president of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen. Expectedly, this initiative is set to offer financial backing to AI startups, promising expeditious access to supercomputers located within Europe.
It will be interesting to observe if this significant commitment to the French AI sector brings forth the intended results, thereby painting a rosy picture for the future of AI in France. Or will it serve as another chapter in the long script of extravagant investments failing to meet the grand expectations they initially inspired? Only time will reveal.
Source: Cointelegraph
