France launches an AI agency for Defense aimed at strengthening its military capabilities. An ambitious project for technological sovereignty.

AI to boost our Defense! In a context of international military tensions and the revival of the technological race in the military sector, France has decided to launch an agency next July to develop artificial intelligence in the field of Defense. The culmination of work and reflection launched in 2017. 

This structure will have an annual budget of 300 million euros, announced on March 8 the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, in an interview with the newspaper Les Echos.

"We need to have the technological building blocks to switch sovereignly to the new generations of weaponry," justifies the minister, who sums up and warns: "Either the French army sets a date, or it falls behind." 

The “Amiad” (Ministerial Agency for Defense Artificial Intelligence) will be headed by a former Google executive, Bertrand Rondepierre, the minister has already announced. Its objective will be to " improve weaponry, intelligence and planning of military operations ", according to the minister. To achieve the expected efficiency and progress, the agency will be able to exploit and extrapolate classified information.

300 experts spread across two sites

Between 2024 and 2030, France plans to invest two billion euros overall to integrate artificial intelligence into the defense sector, explains Sébastien Lecornu.

On the means side, by 2026 the agency must recruit 300 engineers, researchers, civilian and military doctoral students. Its operation will be flexible, assures the minister, in order to better convince the best talents to come and work there.

The Amiad will be spread over two sites, a research center, established in Palaiseau (Essonne), on the Ecole Polytechnique website, and a Technical Center, located near Rennes, in Bruz, on the specialized site for information control and the cyber sector of the General Directorate of Armaments (DGA).

 Finally, the "classified supercomputer" necessary for its operation will be installed at Mont-Valérien, in Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine).