France to invest €655 million in AI, set up common chatbot for all government services

PARIS- French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Tuesday the government will invest €655 million ($758.29 million) in artificial intelligence and will set up a common chatbot for all the state services.

The French government will create a public health chatbot for state-owned health insurance Ameli agency.

Create a new platform to make access to public data easier.

"We can either be subjected to this (Artificial intelligence) revolution, or we can lead it," he said in a post on X.

"The question is not whether the state will use the artificial intelligence anymore, but the question is how fast will it transform," Lecornu said.

"We cannot rely on tools developed by foreign powers. France must have its own tools," he said.

He made the announcement as the "Viva Tech" conference was set to start in Paris.

($1 = 0.8638 euros)

-Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta/Reuters