French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday stated that India and France share the “similar goal” on synthetic intelligence (AI) innovation and don’t need to be “completely dependent” on US and Chinese language fashions, emphasizing the necessity for a balanced and sovereign method to rising applied sciences.
Talking at an occasion on the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Macron highlighted the significance of strategic autonomy within the quickly evolving AI panorama.
“I believe it is necessary that this innovation turns into an important a part of our nations. I consider we share the identical goal in India and France, and in Europe—that we don’t need to be completely depending on US and Chinese language fashions. We consider we want our personal balanced mannequin, and we need to be a part of the answer. We would like our gamers to be a part of the answer as properly,” he stated.
Underscoring the importance of the continued India AI Affect Summit, going down in Delhi, Macron described it as “extraordinarily vital” for shaping discussions round accountable innovation.
“The summit organized by India is extraordinarily vital relating to all these points. After the Motion Summit one 12 months in the past, we continued the dialog to make sure that our nations profit from innovation and to make it possible for this innovation serves our widespread good and humanity,” he added.
Macron additionally harassed that strengthening AI ecosystems requires funding in three key pillars—computing capability, expertise, and capital.
“We’re ensuring that we now have information facilities and computing capacities and that we prepare expertise in our nations. It’s clearly about three components: computing capability, expertise, and capital,” he stated, including that reasonably priced and low-carbon computing capacities are additionally important.
Acknowledging the worldwide AI race, Macron famous that whereas India and France could also be trailing america and China, they continue to be lively contenders.
“We’re within the race. We could be lagging behind the US and China, however we’re within the race,” he stated.
He additional emphasised that widespread adoption of AI, guided by moral ideas, is crucial to unlocking its full potential.
“Adoption is crucial as a result of, with the precise moral method, AI might be adopted and can enable us to find new ailments, rework our power mannequin, and change into rather more productive. This is among the solely methods to totally perceive the results of AI via statistics and to keep away from a widely known paradox the place AI is seen as a beautiful innovation with out delivering actual impression,” Macron stated.
President Macron and Union Minister for Well being & Household Welfare, Jagat Prakash Nadda, inaugurated the Indo-French Campus on AI in World Well being on the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
This initiative marks a big step in strengthening India-France collaboration in synthetic intelligence for world well being. The campus goals to advance analysis, innovation, and capability constructing in AI-driven healthcare options, fostering tutorial excellence and worldwide partnerships.
“It is essential for us to welcome extra Indian college students and to have extra French college students coming right here. We talk about 10,000 per 12 months, roughly, relying on the season. We determined with Prime Minister Modi to have 30,000 by 2030. It is largely possible. On the French aspect, we now have to simplify, and we’ll simplify, our sourcing in addition to the visa facility. To have a visa which meets the expectations. of the scholars and is acceptable—for example, when you have a PhD, I do not know what number of years it took for you, three years, so many, I am a little bit bit loopy.
“So on the French aspect, we’ll clearly streamline this method in an effort to have one thing that meets the expectations and is rather more sensible for the scholars and the colleges… We’ll set up higher connections in an effort to have higher sourcing. In India, 10–15 years in the past, it was not the primary supply of scholars. Let’s be sincere. So I would like our universities and excessive colleges to do rather more, however we will even do rather more when it comes to administrative amenities,” he added.
India is internet hosting the AI Affect Summit 2026 from February 16 to twenty. It’s anchored in three foundational pillars, or ‘Sutras’: Folks, Planet, and Progress.
The Prime Minister inaugurated the India AI Affect Expo 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Monday.
The Summit, the primary world AI gathering to be hosted within the World South, has witnessed unprecedented participation, with over 20 Heads of State, 60 Ministers, and 500 world AI leaders.
Bringing collectively policymakers, expertise firms, innovators, academia, and trade leaders, the Summit seeks to translate world AI deliberations into actionable improvement outcomes below the IndiaAI Mission and the Digital India initiative.
PM Modi will ship the inaugural tackle on February 19, setting the tone for enhanced world cooperation and advancing India’s imaginative and prescient for inclusive, trusted, and development-oriented synthetic intelligence.