Macron Pushes France-India AI Collaboration

(MENAFN) French President Emmanuel Macron declared Thursday that France and India must join forces to define the global rules governing artificial intelligence, cautioning that AI has emerged as a defining theater of strategic rivalry with sweeping geopolitical and economic consequences.

Addressing an AI summit in New Delhi, Macron warned that the breakneck pace of AI development has further tightened the grip of the world's largest technology corporations on the sector.

"AI has become a major field of strategic competition, and big tech got even bigger," Macron said, adding that advances in AI, graphics processing units and semiconductor technologies are directly influencing geopolitical and macroeconomic balances "sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst."

He pushed back firmly against the notion that technological supremacy by any single power was a foregone conclusion.

"Hegemony from any quarter is not a fatality," he said. "There is a path for innovation, independence and strategic autonomy. And this path, I'm convinced, is one that countries like France and India must take together."

Macron said Paris and New Delhi are united by a shared vision of "sovereign AI" — a framework in which technology is developed and governed in ways that protect the planet while driving inclusive economic growth.

He underscored the urgency of robust multilateral governance, rules-based oversight, and deep partnerships anchored in common values including science, the rule of law, and global equilibrium.

"Now is the time to channel our forces toward what works," Macron said, issuing a call for tangible steps to make AI more sustainable, efficient and widely accessible — alongside targeted investment, safeguards against misuse, and strengthened international cooperation aimed at building AI systems that are both safer and more responsible.

MENAFN19022026000045017169ID1110761601