Pathway at the AI Action Summit!

Pathway was present at the AI Action Summit. For almost a week, from February 6 to 11, 2025, Paris hosted numerous events aimed at strengthening international action towards artificial intelligence serving the general interest. The week was punctuated by scientific days, a cultural weekend, an international summit at the Grand Palais, numerous parallel events, and a day for businesses.

The AI Action Summit will be viewed as a success for the Macron presidency. As an attendee, it was a clear “brand-making event” for France with less focus on the broader AI landscape.

The prominent announcement was of course the Stargate-level investment in AI infrastructure for the country (Macron unveils plan for €109bn of AI investment in France, Feb 10). While this investment is a good show, we need to see if the amounts announced will actually be invested and where exactly the investments will go – I am somewhat dubious.

The biggest concern with the investment is the gap in regard to investment from private French players, which is only €3bn out of over €100bn. With such low investment from French participants, questions are raised about whether the funding will actually benefit companies in the country, or if there will be billions poured into chips and data centers, largely to the profit of US and Asia-based firms.

Claire Nouet, COO and Co-founder of French data and AI startup, Pathway