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Summit for action on Artificial Intelligence, we don’t know more…
The communications operation continues, with no real new announcement about the AI Summit which will be held in Paris on February 10 and 11.
Summit, which according to the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, in charge of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology, Clara Chappaz “will be an opportunity to recall the attractiveness of France in AI since the launch of the 1st national AI strategy in 2018 by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and to reaffirm Paris as the world capital of ethical AI, inclusive and more sober. »
Quite a program some would say.
The TikTok saga in the United States takes an even more uncertain turn
As the January 19 deadline approaches, ByteDance sells its U.S. operations or faces a national ban on the platform. The Supreme Court, expected to rule on the law imposing this sale or ban, remains silent for the moment, amplifying tensions around this highly politicized issue.
At the same time, Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on January 20, has suggested that he could sign an executive order to suspend the application of the law for 60 to 90 days. Trump, who initially supported a strict approach to TikTok during his first term, recently praised the app’s impact in mobilizing young voters during his campaign, adding that his final decision will depend on the Supreme Court’s verdict. Note that Shou Chew, CEO of TikTok, will participate in Donald Trump’s inauguration to which he was invited.
The Biden administration, for its part, is exploring options to enforce the law without causing an immediate disruption of service for U.S. users. However, a senior official indicated that Biden is reluctant to extend the deadline unless ByteDance shows significant progress toward a sale, which has not yet been the case.
The big loser from this ban would be ORACLE, which hosts the app’s data and could lose several hundred million dollars in turnover.
François Chollet, pioneer of artificial intelligence, co-founded Ndea, a laboratory dedicated to AG
After 10 years at Google, Frenchman François Chollet, a renowned artificial intelligence researcher and creator of Keras, a widely used deep learning library, joined forces with Mike Knoop, co-founder of Zapier, to launch Ndea. This new research laboratory focuses on the development and operationalization of artificial general intelligence (AGI), with the ambition of pushing the current limits of AI and transforming scientific research into concrete applications.
Datadog acquires Quickwit to strengthen its big data capabilities
Datadog, specialist in APM and observability, announced the acquisition of Quickwit, a start-up founded in 2022 in San Francisco by Adrien Guillo, François Massot and Paul Masurel. Quickwit, developed in Rust and based on the open source Tantivy search engine, is distinguished by an architecture that separates computing and storage, offering increased savings and flexibility. Datadog plans to integrate this technology to meet regulatory requirements related to data residency and privacy protection. The amount of the transaction was not communicated.
Cathay Innovation relies on German startup Nelly to digitalize medical practices
Cathay Innovation co-led a €50 million Series B round for Nelly, the German startup that digitalizes the administrative and financial processes of medical practices. This investment is part of Cathay’s strategy to support innovative companies with high potential, particularly in the fields of health and fintech.
DFNS (finally) announces its €15 million Series A
As we informed you on December 12, DFNS announces its new funding round of 15 million euros.
DFNS offers a Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) platform that allows fintechs and financial institutions to create, integrate and manage multi-chain digital wallets in a simple and automated manner. Its compatibility with major blockchains, coupled with a granular governance policy management system, ensures interoperability and regulatory compliance with standards such as EU DORA and US FISMA.
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Cybersecurity: the United States debates an offensive strategy in the face of cyber threats
As cyberattacks blamed on China, including by the Volt Typhoon group, continue to threaten U.S. critical infrastructure, officials like Mike Waltz are calling for a more aggressive offensive strategy. This posture would aim to deter intrusions by using targeted cyberattacks on opposing systems, drawing inspiration from strategic models such as “mutually assured destruction.” »
However, this approach raises questions. Experts point out that offensive cyber operations are technically complex, requiring prior infiltration of enemy networks, precise mapping and targeted attacks and could be a source of escalation.
The current strategy, which favors a combination of economic sanctions, legal actions and strengthening of defenses, could be supplemented by so-called persistent “cyber-campaign” operations, as proposed by the former head of Cyber Command, Charles Moore.
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The video game industry in crisis despite peaks reached in 2021
According to a study by Matthew Ball, the video game industry is facing a marked slowdown since its peak in 2021. Independent publishers have underperformed the market, notably Unity and Ubisoft, while Konami and Capcom have done well. of the game.
The sector is also affected by a wave of record layoffs: 14,800 in 2024, after 10,500 in 2023. At the same time, venture capital financing for content studios fell by 77% compared to 2021, returning to previous levels. from 2018-2019. These difficulties led to the cancellation of numerous projects, including “The Last of Us Online” and “The Division Heartland”.
This decline is also explained by the drop in the number of regular players (-5 points between 2021 and 2024) and a reduction in average weekly playing time (17.5 hours in 2021 compared to around 13 hours in 2024). Added to this is increased competition from other industries such as digital videos (+26.5% spending in 2023) and recorded music (+5.4%).
🥐 Previous editions of GOOD MORNING FRENCHWEB:
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- Zuckerberg calls for Trump to intervene against EU antitrust fines / UBISOFT considers all opportunities / Jean Michel Billaut has left us.
- EU rejects criticism from Mark Zuckerberg / US authorized to liquidate 69,370 BITCOINS / new cybersecurity label in the United States
- META aligns with X in moderation / UK plans to criminalize deepfakes / series of acquisitions in Frenchtech
- META gets closer to TRUMP / The Pentagon targets TENCENT / Donald Trump finally supports Silicon Valley…
- APPLE settles a dispute over SIRI confidentiality / AI is coming to places of worship / HUAWEI trains 300,000 engineers per year
🚀 To read on FRENCHWEB.FR:
- What trends for venture capital in 2025? the analysis of Jean David Chamboredon, CEO of ISAI
- Shippeo raises 29 million euros to improve the quality of logistics data
- Loft Orbital raises 170 million euros to develop its satellite sharing solution
- Bioptimus raises €41 million to develop multi-scale AI in biotechnology
- 26 million euros for Maki: the AI that redefines recruitment KPIs
- TikTok: a boon for Elon Musk, on track to buy American activities?