The French government intends to support French players in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) by creating, through the influence of voluntary standardization, the conditions for access to and success of their solutions and products in France and internationally. This action is part of the ‘Invest for the Future’ national plan and France’s recovery plan.

Aircraft, drones, telephones, cars, security equipment, agricultural robots, industrial sensors … all these sectors are or will be directly impacted in France by artificial intelligence (AI), including health, industry and agriculture. AI can already perform very meticulous work automatically and at speeds that often cannot be reached by humans. The time savings are substantial and costs can be significantly reduced.

In the future, all critical systems using artificial intelligence will have to be certified. This need for trust in order to access markets is progressively becoming established, judging by the outlines of the European Commission’s future regulation on the subject. In addition to this, digital sovereignty issues are increasingly considered important at the highest levels of governments.

Influencing European and international standards

Securing the use of AI is fundamental. This is why the French government has decided to commit 1.2 million euro to facilitate the creation of globally accepted consensus standards, under the ‘Invest for the Future’ national plan and France’s recovery plan. AFNOR, which already brings together numerous players representing the AI ecosystem, is charged with leading this mission. This is part of the ‘Invest for Future’ national program. The objective is to create synergies in France, with other countries within the framework of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and other international consortiums.

Mapping of standards in general and voluntary standards in particular on AI in general, identification of gaps and opportunities to promote French expertise, facilitation of collective work, etc. The parties involved will have the opportunity to promote an ethical, societal and economic vision of trusted AI, aiming to benefit the interest of citizens and the competitiveness of our economy. With this Great Challenge, France aims to position itself as the European leader in AI standardization.

An essential step in this project is a national consultation. This meeting will be held in early summer 2021 in order to share the directions taken by France and which will be set out in a roadmap expected in February 2022.

“The goal is to bring together all the interested parties, with a platform for consultation. We will define French proposals intended to be implemented on a European scale, with our allies, as well as at international level. With AFNOR, the process will be open to all and designed to develop standards that meet the needs of industry and manufacturers,” said Julien Chiaroni, Director of the Great Challenge on Trustworthy AI at the Secretary General for Investment (SGPI).