France to spend €1.5b on artificial intelligence by 2022

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with researchers during a visit concerning artificial intelligence at the Institut Curie Hospital in Paris, March 29, 2018. RM7.14 billion) of public money into artificial intelligence research by 2022 in a bid to catch up with the United States and China and reverse a brain drain. The investment is part of an AI strategy laid out by President Emmanuel Macron at the elite College de France research institute in Paris, the French presidency said. The goal is to make better use of the French higher education system that trains computer engineers and mathematicians only to see them leave for jobs at top US tech companies. Some of them have secured high-level positions at Alphabet, the parent company of search engine Google, and Facebook, which opened an AI research centre in Paris in 2015.