PHOTOGRAPHY:^ LAURA^STEVENSLeft: Cédric Villani, spider enthusiast and the architect of French AI and technology strategyIn his office in Paris’s National Assembly, Cédric Villani
opens a parcel: it contains a metallic spider. “Lovely,” he
says, putting it on a shelf, where a collection of spider-shaped
objects sit next to a photo of him with Mark Zuckerberg.
Villani is on a mission. Well, several: the French mathe-
matician, winner of the 2010 Fields Medal – seen as maths’
Nobel Prize – sits as an MP for Emmanuel Macron’s party
La République en Marche, teaches at the University of Lyon,
and is running for the Paris 2020 mayoralty. But the expert
in mathematical analysis, famous for his academic achieve-
ments as well as for the spider-shaped pins on his suits, has
a bigger goal: making France a leader in artificial intelligence.
Appointed by the president to set
out a national AI strategy, in 2018 Villani
published a report, “AI for Humanity”,
laying out his vision. “We must valorise
our research, define our industrial
priorities, work on the ethical and legal
framework and on AI training,” he says.
Following the report’s publication,
President Macron announced €1.5bn,
over four years, to implement most of
Villani’s ideas. “I want France to be one
of the leaders of the AI sector,” Macron
said in March. “We have the means, and
we will create the conditions.”
Villani identified four sectors to prior-
itise: health, defence, transport and the
environment. He concluded AI can be
used for “common good”, and recom-
mended the creation of open data
platforms for each sector. About 95
per cent of his propositions are being
implemented by the government, Villani
says; health is the sector in which the creation of the data
platform is most advanced. But he estimates that the number
of AI students must be tripled to answer the sector’s needs.
Research is expected to play a pivotal role in Villani’s plan.
On November 6, 2018, the French minister for Research and
Innovation, Frédérique Vidal, announced the creation ofCédric Villani:
calculating the future
of European AI
Meet the French mathematician appointed by President
Macron to develop France’s innovation strategyfour “interdisciplinary AI institutes”, or “3IA”, where academics
and industrials will work together on AI projects.
For the 3IA to be a success, on Villani’s advice, the
government is now trying to stem the scientific “brain drain”.
To retain mathematicians, algorithmics experts and statis-
ticians, who often leave low-paying roles for the US or China,
a new law will allow them to take on better-paid consultancy
work. Villani also suggested doubling researchers’ salaries,
but the government turned that down. For Nozha Boujemaa,
research director at the National Institute for Research in
Computer Science and Automation, which will co-ordinate
the 3IA project, this is a problem: “We won’t be competitive
enough,” she says. The €1.5bn budget
shows France’s limits, too. “One billion
is less than a regional budget in the US
or China,” Boujemaa says.
Villani knows France can’t compete
with Chinese investment, but it’s not
about France, he says: it’s about Europe.
“France will do nothing in the AI sector
without Europe. We need networks of
researchers and institutes throughout
Europe, to work with each other’s
strengths and good practices.” For
this reason, Villani finds Brexit “tragic”.
“At a moment when we need all
European skills, in a context of harsh
competition worldwide, it is regrettable
to lose the UK’s remarkable expertise.
It is in France and the UK’s best interest
to keep close links in the AI sector.”
Villani’s biggest challenge, though, is
changing the cultural mindset. He gives
the example of two French ministry
services where an algorithm was tested to improve the
office’s operations. Although its efficacy was proved, one
test was stopped, and Villani expects the other to stop, too,
because people were wary of the changes introduced by AI.
“It’s about cultural adaptation,” he says. “We must convince
everyone to co-operate.” Pauline Bock cedricvillani.org- Villani won the
Fields Medal –
one of the highest
honours given to
mathematicians
- aged 36.
- One of Villani’s
heroes is Ludwig
Boltzmann, an
Austrian physicist
who deduced an
“entropy formula”. - He secured his
seat in Parliament
by winning
almost 70 per
cent of the vote in
his constituency.
Three factors
influencing
mathematician
Cédric VillaniFRANCE’S
POLITICAL
SCIENTIST