France to Invest $758 Million in AI ‘Revolution’

French Prime ‌Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on June 16 that the government will invest 655 million euros ($758.3 ⁠million) in artificial intelligence and develop its own tools, independent of the United States and other countries.

“We can either ‌be subjected to this revolution, or we can ​lead it,” Lecornu said in ​a post on X.

Lecornu said the French government would set up a common ​chatbot for all of the government’s ⁠services, as well as a public health chatbot for Ameli, the state-owned health insurance portal.

“The ​question is not whether the state will use ⁠the artificial intelligence anymore, but the question is how fast will it transform,” said Lecornu, who was speaking at the start of the VivaTech conference in Paris.

He also announced, in a video posted on X, that France’s domestic intelligence agency General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) would be ​replacing U.S. tech firm Palantir with a French ‌rival, ChapsVision.

“ChapsVision has been retained ​by the DGSI … to substitute the American giant Palantir,” Lecornu said.

France Cannot Accept Digital ‘Dependencies’

“We ⁠must use our own AI models,” Lecornu said. “We cannot accept new strategic dependencies ​in the digital sphere. We cannot ​rely on tools developed by foreign powers. France must have its own tools.”

But in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times, Palantir said, “Following the announcements made this morning by the French Prime Minister, Palantir Technologies wishes to confirm that the long-term contract between the company and the French DGSI, renewed at the end of 2025 for several additional years, remains fully in force.”

Palantir said it had supported DGSI for 10 years.

“This cooperation continues under the existing contractual commitments and in full compliance with the highest standards of security, data protection, regulatory compliance, and transparency,” it said.

Lecornu’s office later clarified that Palantir’s AI ​would be used by DGSI “to avoid a capability gap” until similar tools made by ChapsVision were available.

On June 12, California-based Anthropic said it would “abruptly disable” its most advanced AI models for all users, after the U.S. government told it to block access by foreign nationals, citing national security concerns.

On May 25, the Vatican also weighed in on the AI debate. Pope Leo XIV published a document that called for robust regulation and independent oversight of AI, and for those involved in its development not to lose sight of the common good in their quest for profit and technological dominance.

Anthropic cofounder Christopher Olah supported the pope’s message in a news conference.

“If this technology is coming, it must go well for our common home and for the children to come,” Olah said.

Palantir was cofounded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, who also cofounded PayPal. The CIA’s investment arm, In-Q-Tel, is among those investing in Palantir.

Thiel is one of the Big Tech tycoons who helped to shape the second Trump administration after it won the 2024 election.

Latest Blow for Palantir

In February, Palantir announced in its year-end report that it had closed a record-setting $4.26 billion in total contract value, up by 138 percent year over year.

But it has had a number of setbacks in Europe recently.

In April, Thomas ⁠Daum, head of the ​German military’s cyberdefense command, told the Handelsblatt newspaper that it did not plan to give any contracts to Palantir.

“As much as we are interested in ​the functionality for our own ​database, it is simply inconceivable at the ‌moment ⁠to grant industry staff access to the national database,” Daum said.

The UK technology secretary, Liz Kendall, said on June 9 that a full review of the UK National Health Service’s 330 million pound ($441 million) contract with Palantir was being reviewed to see whether it could activate a break clause to terminate the U.S. company’s services in early 2027.

On June 9, The Guardian reported that Palantir was suing London Mayor Sadiq Khan after he blocked a deal by the Metropolitan Police Service to buy AI tools from the U.S. company for 50 million pounds ($67 million).

“The [Metropolitan Police Service] did not present its procurement strategy as required and … only fully engaged with one potential supplier: Palantir,” a spokesperson for Khan’s office told The Guardian.

In June 2025, Palantir Technologies’ global director of privacy and civil liberties, Courtney Bowman, denied claims in The New York Times that the company was building a massive, unified database containing Americans’ personal information.

“We are not building, we have not been asked to build, and we’re not in contract to build any kind of federal master list or master database across different agencies,” Bowman told The Epoch Times.

The Epoch Times reached out to ChapsVision for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Reuters contributed to this report.