Why do we need secure, sovereign generative AI?

In this article, find out how to create a fully secure sovereign generative AI, and why it's essential for every French company and institution!

15/03/2024

Hélen d'Argentré
AI Product Marketing
Trustworthy AI

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Contents

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Plan 

  1. Introduction
  2. Decoding Digital Sovereignty: A Technological Freedom Issue
  3. Keys to success: Why opt for a Sovereign Stack?
  4. Diving into the Heart of Innovation: The French Technical Stack Revolution
  5. Conclusion: Strengthening the Generative AI Ecosystem in France

Introduction

At the crossroads of innovation and creativity, generative AI shines through its ability to create new and original content from scratch, be it text, images, music and much more. It relies on advanced algorithms, trained to understand and generate data that appears to have been designed by man, opening the field to an infinite number of applications, in many fields.France is at the heart of this revolution. France is at the heart of this revolution, distinguishing itself through the quality of its engineers and the development of a truly autonomous and sovereign ecosystem. This approach reflects the vital importance of autonomy in the artificial intelligence sector. By capitalizing on French resources and talent, the country aims to forge a solid and secure AI offering, ready to compete internationally while adhering to European standards and regulations.This article aims to shed light on the fundamental elements of this 100% French infrastructure, from the creation of Foundations Models with Mistral AI, their specialization on Craft AI's LLMOps platform to their execution on the Scaleway sovereign cloud. We'll examine the benefits of such a sovereign strategy, while addressing the challenges to be overcome and future prospects for generative AI in France.

Decoding Digital Sovereignty: A Technological Freedom Issue

Technological sovereignty, particularly in the field of generative artificial intelligence, is fundamental to the strategic independence and security of a nation or regional bloc such as the European Union. It concerns the ability to develop, control and maintain one's own information infrastructures and technologies, without depending on external entities. This includes control over data, essential for powering AI systems, guaranteeing their security and compliance with local regulations, such as the RGPD in Europe.AI sovereignty also involves promoting a robust local industry, capable of generating innovation and employment, while ensuring international competitiveness. It aims to reduce dependence on large foreign technology platforms, by developing proprietary solutions and technologies that meet the region's specific linguistic, cultural and legal requirements.This objective requires close collaboration between the public sector, the private sector, academic research and entrepreneurial initiatives, to create a dynamic and innovative AI ecosystem. Such an approach ensures that AI developments respect ethical values, contribute positively to society, and protect national and European interests.Sovereignty in generative AI is therefore a major issue for technological autonomy, data protection, and the alignment of technological advances with French values and standards. It is essential for navigating today's globalized digital landscape, ensuring that the benefits of AI accrue to all, while securing critical infrastructures and sensitive data against foreign influence and control.

Keys to success: Why opt for a Sovereign Stack?

To develop a sovereign generative AI technical stack in France, we need to start by developing digital sovereignty. This means greater control over data, in strict compliance with regulations such as the RGPD. This digital sovereignty makes it possible to reduce dependence on foreign technologies, which is vital for national security and autonomy in strategic areas. Companies like Mistral AI, Scaleway and Craft AI are investing in the development of a sovereign French AI offering.These sovereign solutions stimulate innovation and technological development, tailoring services to France's specific needs and regulatory, linguistic and cultural challenges. For example, Mistral AI develops LLMs specific to the French context, while Scaleway offers sovereign cloud services guaranteeing data security and compliance. These collective efforts offer not only economic benefits through reinvestment in the French economic fabric, but also protection against industrial and financial interference by foreign companies. The agility and ability to respond rapidly to security threats, as well as close alignment with European regulations, position French companies uniquely on the market, while protecting innovations and strategic private and national interests.

Diving into the Heart of Innovation: The French Technical Stack Revolution

Having laid the foundations for the growing importance of generative AI in today's technological landscape, and highlighted the French initiative to develop a sovereign technical stack, let's now delve into the heart of this stack. One of the essential pillars of this stack is the LLM, which must be open and, as far as possible, trained on French data to better understand the specific context of our society.

Mistral AI's LLMs

Mistral AI, the latest addition to the French artificial intelligence scene, was co-founded by a trio of talents from France's most prestigious institutions. Arthur Mensch, Guillaume Lample and Timothée Lacroix, all of whom have had exceptional careers, launched this nugget that has become a global benchmark in just a few months. These founders, with roots deeply rooted in French science education, chose to return to France after gaining solid experience with American tech giants. Their aim was to contribute to the advancement of open and ethical AI, as close as possible to the sources of expertise and the regulatory vanguard. This ambition is reflected in their commitment to creating generative AI models that are distinguished by their openness and adaptability, responding to a growing need for transparency and personalization in the use of AI.

Scaleway sovereign cloud 

‍Scalewaystands out as a European sovereign cloud provider, focusing on building, training, scaling deployment of AI models and intelligent applications in a resilient and sustainable cloud ecosystem. Scaleway is positioned as a French and European alternative to hyperscalers, ensuring the sovereignty of its customers' data with redundant infrastructure and certified data centers. Xavier Niel, founder of Iliad, the group that owns Scaleway, has demonstrated his commitment to the advancement of generative AI by investing heavily in the computing power required for these technologies. With an investment of 200 million euros, this initiative aims to strengthen Scaleway's capabilities for generative AI. This strategic step also demonstrates X. Niel's commitment to supporting the French technology ecosystem in the competitive field of artificial intelligence.

Specializing and deploying models with Craft AI 

‍CraftAI is a French startup that enables companies to build their own experience around generative AI. Through its LLMOps(Large Language Model Operations) platform, Craft AI offers a turnkey trusted AI solution, enabling companies to specialize and deploy their own generative AI. With no need to send data to foreign third parties, Craft AI enables you to retain control over your infrastructures (FinOps) and data (Privacy). By making fine-tuning and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) techniques accessible, Craft AI enables its users to tailor LLMs precisely to their specific needs. This approach significantly improves the performance and applicability of models, guaranteeing greater accuracy and rapid, efficient production release. The fine-tuning process, essential for creating secure private generative AIs, delivers improved performance in a defined context compared with open-source models. At the same time, the use of RAG enriches the model's responses with relevant data, increasing its reliability and relevance, and making it possible to justify its sources. Craft AI perfectly illustrates the convergence between technological innovation and security requirements, making its platform indispensable for any sovereign technical stack seeking to integrate secure, compliant generative AI solutions.

Conclusion: Strengthening the Generative AI Ecosystem in France

The advent of generative AI marks a technological revolution, with France in the firing line for its autonomy and innovation. France has distinguished itself by developing a 100% French AI infrastructure, illustrating its commitment to technological independence and the development of French talent. This initiative underlines the importance of sovereignty in AI, guaranteeing security, compliance and competitiveness on the international stage.

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