PARIS. From 17 to 21 June at Paris Nord Villepinte, EUROSATORY (https://www.eurosatory.com/en/), the global event for Defence and Security (D&S), will be the year’s major international event for governments along with all public and private decision makers in the defence and security community.
Emmanuel Macron
The 2024 edition, which has extended its influence further than ever, will bring the entire D&S industry together around a comprehensive range of equipment and solutions to tackle all types of crises, from high-intensity conflicts to the humanitarian and environmental disasters specific to our century.
High-level talks and panel discussions are also a top feature in this event.
Among the technologies on show and the themes addressed at the exhibition, artificial intelligence (AI) will be one of the 2024 exhibition’s hot topics.
Indeed, it is proving to be a major innovation catalyst in the defence and security domains.
Eurosatory 2024 will thus offer a unique platform to explore these technologies that have become unavoidable, as a security and sovereignty focal point for armed forces and governments.
AN INTERNATIONAL “RACE TO AI” WITH THE FOCUS ON INNOVATION
As the reflection of industrial trends and those of D&S , a global “race to AI” has begun in which States are investing to maintain or gain a lead over the others.
The United States have developed a sizeable ecosystem incorporating cloud technology and its IA development and use doctrine, which combine to make it the undisputed leader of this race.
China meanwhile has developed its own standardised system by massively investing in technology, especially in biometrics.
It also holds the record for the number of scientific publications on the subject.
In the area of standardisation, the European Union cannot be ignored, with the adoption on 9 December 2023 of its first legal text on the subject, the EU AI Act, by the European Parliament and Council.
FRANCE IN THE RACE TO AI
In this worldwide race to AI, France is fairly well-placed, particularly “with regard to its large businesses and its start-ups”, highlights the neuroscientist Quentin Montardy, also CEO of InMind-VR, a Eurosatory exhibitor, adding however the caveat that “French researchers tend to go abroad”.
The matter of sovereign AI is naturally essential
The matter of sovereign AI is naturally essential, but should be placed into perspective in view of the dependence on an ecosystem initiated by the United States, in particular the cloud.
According to Arnault Ioualalen, mathematician and CEO of Numalis, who will be present at Eurosatory, one way for France to position itself would be to fight on a different terrain by developing what he calls “frugal AI”, i.e. AI running on “less data and therefore greater sovereignty”.
In his view, greater sovereignty in this area also involves the simultaneous and ongoing relaunch of a European semiconductor sector.
Arnault Ioualalen also argues that while the United States may be a few years (“about three years”) ahead of France in terms of doctrine, China is emerging as a major strategic competitor, investing and publishing on a massive scale: “What we are seeing is colossal investment. Where we are investing €500 million, the Chinese are investing €50 billion…”.
What we are also seeing is China’s desire to “structure the AI ecosystem for their industry” through a standardisation strategy that has already been in place for five years. In Europe, a text designed to lead to the first legislation in this area – the so-called “EU AI Act” – was adopted on 9 December by the European Parliament and Council.
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