AI for Humanity: national strategy for artificial intelligence

Summary

France's national AI strategy, presented by the President on 29 March 2018 at the Collège de France on the basis of the Villani report, with 1.5 billion euros of public funding over the five-year term. Its pillars are the AI ecosystem and talent, with a national research programme coordinated by Inria; an active policy of opening data; a financing and regulatory framework for priority sectors such as health and mobility; and the ethical and political questions of AI. On ethics it calls for public transparency of algorithms, tracking their bias, not leaving them the monopoly of decisions, a European reflection on the control and certification of algorithms, and an IPCC-like body for AI.

Language

No English version of this instrument was found. The English title and the summary are the register's own, written from the sources below; for the exact wording use the French text.

Safety topics

Scope

Borderline scope Mainly a strategy for AI research, talent, data and funding, with ethics as one of its pillars; included as France's national AI strategy.

Open question

the checker found something possibly newer: {'url': 'https://www.info.gouv.fr/actualite/ia-une-nouvelle-impulsion-pour-la-strategie-nationale', 'what': 'Third stage of the national AI strategy announced after the interministerial committee of 6 Feb 2025; not stored; does not change the fields this r Issue #185

The record shows its last checked values until a maintainer decides; the decision is recorded in its history.

Status notes

Presented at the 'AI for Humanity' conference; the government press kit of 28 November 2018 describes the strategy in three axes: talent, diffusion of AI in the economy and society, and ethics. The funding includes 100 million euros from the Fund for Innovation and Industry for AI start-ups, 70 million euros a year through the public investment bank for deep-technology start-ups and 400 million euros for innovation challenges and industrial projects, within a total of 1.5 billion euros of public money expected to bring more than 500 million euros of private investment. The President said the State would by default make public the code of all algorithms it uses, starting with Parcoursup, and announced a regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles by 2022. The national research strategy for AI of 28 November 2018 is its research component: a national programme run by Inria with interdisciplinary AI institutes (3IA), 40 chairs and a doubling of AI doctorates. A 'Grand Défi' launched on 18 July 2018 aims to secure, certify and make reliable systems that use AI. The Government's press kit of 8 November 2021 calls it the national AI strategy for 2018-2022, says its first phase had come to an end, and launches a second phase of the national AI strategy with 2.22 billion euros over five years, 1.5 billion of it public, centred on training AI talent and turning research into economic success, including trustworthy AI.

Sources

Open the official source https://www.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/content_migration/document/mesri_IA_dep_A4_09_1040607.pdf

Secondary source: https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2018/03/29/discours-du-president-de-la-republique-sur-lintelligence-artificielle

Local copy

Verification

History

1. 2026-10-18verification.level: A → B — level computed from the evidence by tools/pipeline.py2026-10-18-refresh-level-rule-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2. 2026-10-18scope_note: Mainly a strategy for AI research, talent, data and funding with ethics as one p → Mainly a strategy for AI research, talent, data and funding, with ethics as one — the published scope_note was a reviewer's remark ('the existing scope_note is appropriate'); rewritten as a public statement of why the strategy is borderline and included2026-10-18-refresh-level-rule-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
3. 2026-10-17scope_note: Mainly a strategy for AI research, talent, data and funding, with ethics as one → Mainly a strategy for AI research, talent, data and funding with ethics as one p — pipeline run 2026-10-17-recheck-europe-2 (recheck), candidate FR-022026-10-17-recheck-europe-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
4. 2026-10-17notes: Presented at the 'AI for Humanity' conference; the government press kit of 28 No → Presented at the 'AI for Humanity' conference; the government press kit of 28 No — one sentence added on the second phase of 8 November 2021 (later instrument), from its stored press kit2026-10-17-recheck-europe-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
5. 2026-10-17status: Published (non-binding, current) → Superseded — 'Published (non-binding, current)' changed to 'Superseded': the Government's press kit of 8 November 2021 calls the 2018 strategy the national AI strategy for 2018-2022, says its first phase had come to an end ('au terme de la première phase') and launches a second phase2026-10-17-recheck-europe-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
6. 2026-10-16Added to the register — found in pipeline run 2026-10-16-discover-leads-2018, candidate C005 (FR/executive)2026-10-16-discover-leads-2018 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Citation

President of the Republic and Government of France. AI for Humanity: national strategy for artificial intelligence. 2018-03-29. https://www.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/content_migration/document/mesri_IA_dep_A4_09_1040607.pdf. Status: Superseded; verified 2026-10-18 (level B). Local copy archive/FR-02/2026-10-16/official.pdf retrieved 2026-10-16 12:57:18 UTC, SHA-256 20248c82753b7b701ed65795b9e5b1c3d3df0434dfc9269d5cb33e469fc396a2. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record FR-02.

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