Rise Of Les Machines: France's Macron Pledges $1.5 Billion To Boost AI

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during the'Artificial Intelligence for Humanity' event in Paris on March 29, 2018. The French president is to unveil on March 29 a bold plan to make France a centre of reference for artificial intelligence research, aimed at drawing homegrown and foreign talent in a field dominated by US and Chinese players. Businesses have been falling over themselves to show their investments in artificial intelligence. France wants to be in the AI game too, and President Emmanuel Macron believes that being on the forefront of the next big technology wave will help make his economy, which has experienced an uptick in growth and investment thanks to recent reforms, more competitive. Macron announced Thursday that his government would spend $1.5 billion on a number of initiatives to boost AI research in France, part of an effort to help the country plug a talent and research gap that exists between Europe, and both the U.S. and China.