Welcome to our weekly French AI newsletter. Subscribe now to get full access to company launches, new products, exclusive interviews, research, and deals.

Chris O'Brien + Helen O'Reilly-Durand

✊ Sponsors 🙌

Want to reach an audience of more than 30,000 readers each month?

The French Tech Journal is the leading English-language media platform covering France's dynamic tech ecosystem. With over 31,000 engaged readers across key global markets and consistently high engagement rates, we provide unparalleled access to decision-makers in French tech.

Edito

US tech companies are fond of dragging Europe for being too protectionist and over-regulated. But it seems that hasn't stopped Silicon Valley AI companies for asking a little government intervention on their behalf.

To wit: Open AI last week submitted its proposals for the AI Action Plan, which is under consideration by the current U.S. administration. The document outlines several ways OpenAI proposes using protectionist policies to bolster U.S. AI startups and maintain American leadership in the global AI race, especially in competition with China.

This includes expert controls to promote what it dubs “Democratic AI.” The plan suggests using export controls strategically to ensure global adoption of U.S.-aligned AI infrastructure while restricting access to nations like China. It advocates a tiered model where only allies (Tier I) get easier access to U.S. tech, while Tier III countries (like China) face strict restrictions. American AI tools would be promoted abroad as “democratic alternatives” to China-backed systems, thus capturing global markets for U.S. companies.

The company also wants the government to encourage the adoption of U.S.-developed AI tools first, streamline procurement, and fast-track security certifications for domestic companies. It recommends using the Defense Production Act to prioritize components for U.S. data centers and national security AI efforts.

In sum, the plan calls for a protective ecosystem—regulatory, legal, economic, and strategic—designed to ensure that U.S. startups can thrive without being undercut by foreign competitors. Beyond that, Open AI calls for the government to organize massive infrastructure investments, including through such mechanisms as a Sovereign Wealth Fund.

These are economic tools that Europeans would recognize, of course. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Europe should be blushing.

Chris O'Brien

Headlines

🗞️ Mistral AI was asked for the 1,367th time about plans for an IPO, and CEO Arthur Mensch said Nope no time soon, sorry. In an interview with Fortune, Mensch said of previous remarks that started the press foaming at the mouth: “I was asked a question about our future, and what I said is that we intend to remain an independent company, [so] the natural path is to get to an IPO at some point...Just to clarify, we’re not looking towards an IPO [right now].” M'kay. Meanwhile, Mistral kept chugging along with its open-source strategy and dropped a new model – Mistral Small 3.1 – that it claims outperforms OpenAI. | Fortune, VentureBeat

🗞️ Meta is finally launching its AI assistant, Meta AI, in Europe after months of delays due to the complexities of the European regulatory framework. Initially rolled out in the U.S. in 2023, the tool can generate text and images, answer questions, and help plan trips — but the European version is limited to text generation only and has not been trained on European user data. The rollout will cover 41 European countries and 21 overseas territories, with availability in six languages. Meta aims to surpass one billion users this year (up from 700 million currently) and is heavily investing in AI, with plans to spend $60 to $65 billion on data centers, servers, and infrastructure.

🗞️ Pathé Films has partnered with AI platform Genario to introduce the Genario x Pathé prize at the inaugural World AI Film Festival, scheduled for April 11-12 in Nice, France. This award will recognize the best feature film synopses generated by artificial intelligence, offering cash prizes of €10,000, €5,000, and €2,000 to the top three entries. A jury led by screenwriter Thomas Bidegain, along with industry figures like Banijay France CEO Alexia Laroche-Joubert and actress/filmmaker Julie Gayet, will evaluate the submissions. The festival, chaired by French filmmaker Claude Lelouch, aims to explore AI's impact on cinematic creation, financing, and production. ​| ScreenDaily

🗞️ Pruna AI, which specializes in AI model compression algorithms, has open-sourced its optimization framework. This framework integrates various efficiency techniques, such as caching, pruning, quantization, and distillation, to enhance AI model performance. By standardizing the application of these methods, Pruna AI aims to simplify the optimization process for developers. Additionally, the company plans to introduce a "compression agent" capable of automatically optimizing models based on user-defined parameters, further streamlining AI model efficiency. | TechCrunch

🗞️ La Quadrature du Net (LQDN), a privacy advocacy association, is launching a campaign against France's proposed "Simplification" bill, particularly Article 15, for enabling the expedited construction of large data centers by overriding local planning regulations and reducing public participation in decision-making processes. The bill would grant these projects a "major national interest" status, allowing the government to impose them on municipalities, potentially infringing on environmental laws and local autonomy. The government has declared the construction of more data centers critical for the country to remain competitive in AI. In response, La Quadrature du Net and the collective "Le Nuage était sous nos pieds," along with other members of the "Hiatus" coalition, are calling for the deletion of Article 15 and a two-year moratorium on the construction of large data centers. This pause aims to establish conditions for democratic control over these digital infrastructures, addressing concerns about their ecological impact and the erosion of public services. | La Quadrature du Net (LQDN)

Other Headlines

🗞️ Why Trump Is Good For Mistral and Cohere | "One thing is clear, though: the Trump presidency will be good for AI developers like Mistral and Cohere. The reason might surprise you. Both firms have benefited from the sovereign AI movement, in which non-U.S. developers have positioned themselves as their countries’ AI champions that will help reduce dependence on American tech. That movement has gained new momentum as Trump has diverged from previously friendly countries, both with his protectionist policies and on the Ukraine war." | The Information

ICYMI

🗞️ Descartes Underwriting: Doubling Down On Climate Risk As Insurance Industry Retreats | Chief Science Officer Kévin Dedieu: "AI represents between 2-5% of our tech investments. Next year, we’re increasing that by 10%, with more resources dedicated to AI and using it for our core models. The cost of AI is relatively low, but its impact is huge.” | The French Tech Journal

Europe Needs AI Infrastructure. Cleyrop Wants To Build It | Can Europe power its digital future without relying on non-European cloud providers? And if so, what kind of AI infrastructure does Europe need? These are the challenges that Arnaud Muller, co-founder of Cleyrop, has dedicated himself to solving. His company provides European public and private organizations with sovereign, AI-ready data storage and management solutions. | The French Tech Journal

🗞️ Growl's AI Boxing Bag Delivers A Knockout Fitness Experience | A pair of French entrepreneurs in Texas have launched Growl, a connected fitness startup that reimagines the traditional boxing bag as an AI-powered, interactive home coach. As the company moves towards commercialization, CEO and co-founder Léo Desrumaux explains the vision. | The French Tech Journal

🗞️ Digital Diplomats: AI is Making Silicon Valley Startups Leaner and Meaner. Can French Founders Keep Up? | U.S. Startups are reaching $100M ARR with less than 50 employees. French startups risk being squeezed if they don’t adapt. | The French Tech Journal

Events

☀️ Sponsors' events ☀️

📆 Techinnov | March 27 | The 19th edition of Techinnov is back. Led by the CCI Essonne and the CCI Paris Ile-de-France, and under the high patronage of the President of the Republic, Techinnov is in line with the “France 2030” plan. Objective: to generate meetings between startups and clients to promote the financing of innovation. | Register

📆 Viva Technology | June 11 - 14 | VivaTech is Europe's biggest startup and tech event. The ninth edition is taking place in Paris, at the Expo Porte de Versailles venue. VivaTech contributes to the acceleration of innovation by connecting startups, technology leaders, large companies, and investors addressing the world's greatest challenges. | Buy Tickets

The calendar:

📆 Paris AI Society 🍻 Afterwork | March 26 | Join us for an evening of networking and enriching conversations. Whether you’re a tech lover, a startup enthusiast, or simply curious about the future of AI, you’ll find plenty of inspiration and like-minded individuals to connect with. Share experiences, discuss groundbreaking ideas, and maybe even spark collaborations that could lead to the next big thing in tech! | Register

📆 Café du Numérique | April 4 | Discover how AI can revolutionize your business and boost your competitiveness. Connect directly with innovation experts. Get inspired by the success stories of companies pioneering the use of AI. | Registration

📆 AgentX | April 7 | AgentX is pioneering the first fully agent summit, designed to showcase the transformative power of AI and Decentralization. Co-created by two of the leading events in their domains, Paris Blockchain Week and RAISE, this revolutionary event will bring together the brightest minds, cutting-edge projects, and global visionaries to tackle the most pressing moments of the ongoing AI revolution: Agents and Decentralization. | Tickets

📆 AWS Summit Paris | April 9 |AWS Summit Paris 2025 is a free one-day event focused on generative AI, data, security, sustainability, and more. Customize your experience with a keynote featuring leading speakers, over 150 interactive sessions and workshops, one-on-one consultations with our experts, an exhibition area showcasing the latest cloud innovations, as well as numerous networking and training opportunities. | Register

📆 Data & AI Summit | April 10 | The Data & AI Summit 2025 will bring together IT decision-makers and AI experts to explore the opportunities and challenges associated with data and artificial intelligence. This event will highlight the impact of generative AI on business models, as well as best practices for maximizing the value of data within modern organizations. | Register

📆 Mistral AI Robotics Hackathon | April 11 - 13 | Join us on April 11th - 13th in Paris, to learn about and build on World Models & Embodied AI. For the first time ever, teams will have access to 40+ robotic arms from Hugging Face’s The Robot team, and build Real World Models powered by Mistral AI. ​There will be mentors and jury from lots of robotics companies, including: Hugging Face's LeRobot team, Mimic, Wandercraft, Phospho...and more. | Register

📆 MKIA 25 | April 29 | The Maddy Keynote, organized by Maddyness, announces its special edition: the MKIA, the event that transforms the broad guidelines on AI into concrete initiatives for the economic leaders of tomorrow. Far from abstract tech-symbol discourse, MKIA deciphers AI in a concrete and educational way through round tables, keynotes, case studies, and a zone for startups. It enables all actors – start-ups, corporations, investors, and institutions – to take ownership of the challenges, opportunities, and challenges of its adoption. | Register

📆 GOSIM AI Paris 2025 | May 6-7 | The Global Open-Source Innovation Meetup will spotlight the latest advancements in 6 Conference Tracks: AI Model, AI Infra, AI Apps, Embodied AI, AI for Science, and Global Open-Source AI Collaboration, driving significant progress in global open-source AI collaboration. A highlight of the event is the introduction of GOSIM AI Spotlight, a global initiative to select 10 outstanding open-source AI projects for showcase and technical exchange, further accelerating AI innovation. | Registration

📆 Google Cloud Summit France 2025 | May 22 | Join the annual Google Cloud event to discover the latest technological innovations in generative AI, security, application development, collaboration, and more. | Register

📆 The Paris AI Conference 2025 | June 16 | The Paris AI Conference 2025 gathers 250 of France's AI Experts, Founders, Investors, and Enthusiasts, for an evening of content and networking. This event is hosted by Startup Network Europe. | Register

📆 Stripe Tour Paris | June 17 | Join us for Stripe Tour, our global roadshow that brings together business leaders in major cities to discuss the most important trends in payments and financial technology. | Register

📆 RAISE Summit 2025 | July 8-9, 2025 | RAISE Summit is the premier event for professionals seeking to disrupt, build, and connect in the AI landscape. This summit is the ultimate destination to validate AI strategies through real-world use cases, define a winning AI playbook, and find the right partners to deliver cutting-edge solutions. | Register

👋🏻 If you’re enjoying The French Tech Journal, support the project by forwarding it to friends and sharing it on your social networks. You can also comment on this post. And if you have ideas for stories, tips, or just want to harass us, shoot us an email: chris@frenchtechjournal.com / helen@frenchtechjournal.com 👋🏻‌