French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on June 16 unveiled a €655 million investment plan to advance artificial intelligence under the France 2030 strategy [1, 2, 3, 4]. The funding will target AI infrastructure, computing power, research, enterprises, and the industrial chain related to AI development [1, 2, 3, 4].

Lecornu said the aim is to end strategic digital dependencies on foreign powers and secure France's sovereignty in AI technology. “We cannot accept new strategic dependencies in the digital domain. France must establish true autonomy, rather than relying on certain countries which could cut off France’s access to AI,” he said [2].

As part of the initiative, France plans to roll out AI chatbots to support approximately 1 million civil servants, helping them with daily administrative tasks. The government estimates the rollout and promotion of these AI tools will cost around €700,000 [2, 4].

Public services will also benefit from a new AI platform designed to provide enhanced access to population, economic, geographic, and administrative data [2, 3, 4]. Meanwhile, the domestic security agency DGSI will terminate its contract with US-based Palantir and instead use services from French company ChapsVision to avoid reliance on foreign technology [2, 4].

The French government will incorporate AI capabilities into budget planning to promote cost and time savings across ministries [2]. The public health insurance website Ameli plans to introduce an AI "public health assistant" to guide users toward entrusting health data to official French AI systems rather than foreign platforms [2, 4].

The Foreign Ministry is preparing to launch DiploIA, a new AI translation tool, within June 2026 to support diplomatic communications [2, 4].

Prime Minister Lecornu emphasized France’s choice amid the global AI revolution: “We can either be subjected to this (Artificial intelligence) revolution, or we can lead it,” adding, “The question is not whether the state will use the artificial intelligence anymore, but the question is how fast will it transform” [3]. He reinforced the message stating, “We cannot rely on tools developed by foreign powers. France must have its own tools” [3].

The France 2030 AI investment plan and public service AI rollout come ahead of the VivaTech conference, reflecting a clear government push to assert digital sovereignty.