Since 2018, Inria has played a crucial role in supporting government action in the field of artificial intelligence, in close collaboration with the National Strategy for AI.
To coordinate the research component of this strategy within our ecosystems, Inria created the AI Program, which is part of the Digital Programs Agency entrusted to Inria by the French government. Inria's AI Program leads a scientific and technological research front in support of public policy priorities in artificial intelligence. It acts as the key operator for the implementation of the national AI strategy, particularly for:
Supporting innovative projects Thanks to high-level scientific, technological and technical expertise, the program supports disruptive AI projects, and dedicated initiatives such as AI Pioneers, Inria Startup Studio or strategic partnerships .
Providing concrete tools for public and private actors, Inria develops platforms, databases, benchmarks, and methodologies to help administrations, businesses or communities integrate reliable and sovereign AI technologies (P16, RegalIA, AI for Scientists, LLMs4EU, etc.)
Analyzing the impact of AI on society The program explores in particular the effects of AI on work (LaborIA), the environment (ADEME 2030 scenarios), and more broadly its role in society, in connection with citizen initiatives such as Make.org .
Promoting collaborations at the local and international level. It supports projects geared towards the common good, such as the Centre of Expertise for International Cooperation, the Franco-Chilean Binational Centre, the AI Action Summit or joint actions with AI Clusters .
Supporting the implementation of European AI regulations, Inria helps prepare for the application of the AI Act and strengthens the skills of national authorities with initiatives such as INESIA, NoLeFa, or RegalIA .
The main tools of the French national strategy for AI research
AI Clusters
Nine AI clusters have been created by leading French universities, with an investment of €360 million as part of the France 2030 plan in 2024. One of the main objectives is to double the number of students trained in AI through strengthened research and high-quality education. This investment aims to foster the emergence of university centers of excellence by combining high-quality training with excellence in research and innovation. The goal? To train 100,000 people by 2030 (including 20,000 through in-house training programs).
Key indicators in 2025:
300 chairs involving 2,000 scientists
600 doctoral theses defended each year (from fundamental AI to AI-based applications)
The AI Research Priority Programme and Equipment (PEPR IA)
The French government has tasked the CEA, CNRS, and Inria with coordinating a research program aimed at addressing the scientific challenges related to the main technological pillars of the country's national strategy: from embedded and reliable AI to the mathematical foundations of AI, and from fundamental research to proof of concept. The PEPR IA plays a key role in bringing research communities together, with the goal of launching exciting scientific challenges while fostering the emergence of disruptive innovations that will benefit the entire French ecosystem.
The Center of Expertise for International Cooperation in AI
Launched by France and Canada, the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) was established in June 2020. Recently integrated into the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2024, it aims to promote in public policies a scientific use of AI that respects human rights and democratic values.
Three centers of expertise have been created within the framework of this partnership, one of which is led by Inria. As key strategic partners, these centers of expertise lead an international multidisciplinary network of 150 experts, who implement projects in response to the economic and societal challenges posed by AI.
The National Institute for the Evaluation and Security of Artificial Intelligence (INESIA)
Led by the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN) on behalf of the Prime Minister and by the Directorate General for Enterprises (DGE), the institute brings together the work of four public organizations with complementary expertise: the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI), the National Metrology and Testing Laboratory (LNE), the Digital Regulation Expertise Center (PEReN), and Inria. INESIA's work focuses on analyzing systemic risks in the field of national security, supporting the implementation of AI regulation, and evaluating the performance and reliability of AI models. This regulatory, scientific, and technical work will notably support the government by providing tools and methodologies to facilitate the implementation of the AI Act.
LaborIA: Understanding the impact of AI on the world of work
Created by the Ministry of Labor and Inria in 2021, LaborIA is an action-research program focused on analyzing the impacts of artificial intelligence on work, employment, and skills. After two years of investigations in collaboration with Matrice (an innovation institute studying, among other things, the social effects of AI), the LaborIA "Explorer" project published original results, recommendations, and tools on human-computer interaction and the challenges of AI adoption in the workplace. Since then, LaborIA has been expanding its work, both in diverse sectors (logistics, production, culture, creative industries, social work, etc.) and on cross-cutting themes such as recruitment and inclusion.
P16 is an ambitious project that aims to bring together a wide range of research stakeholders and boost collaborations between academic and industrial ecosystems, enriching software libraries across the data lifecycle and meeting the diverse needs of users. The P16 project roadmap is being developed by Inria's AI program and the mission-driven startup, Probabl. The project's initial years will focus on the pre-industrialization phase, bringing the first identified software components to the stage of practical software production.
The Régalia pilot project, led by Inria, aims to build a software environment for testing and helping to regulate digital platforms to address the biases generated by the algorithms of digital platforms.
The "AI Pioneers" program aims to support the most ambitious and transformative AI projects, capable of generating technological breakthroughs in key sectors such as industry, healthcare, the ecological transition, and security. By employing an agile funding method, it encourages risk-taking and focuses public resources on projects with high impact potential.
Launched in July 2025, this new call for projects for France 2030 is operated on behalf of the State by Bpifrance in partnership with the Digital Programs Agency.
Franco-Chilean Binational Center for AI
The Franco-Chilean binational AI center envisions itself as a strategic bridge between Latin America and Europe in the development of artificial intelligence. This collaboration allows both countries to complement their respective capabilities and supports the consolidation of the Franco-Chilean AI ecosystem by establishing a new paradigm for international cooperation. The center will focus its efforts on six strategic areas: AI assessment; generative AI and fundamental models; AI for science; frugal and embedded AI; AI and innovation; and AI public policy.
Training is the primary driver of the digital transition and the most effective way to create sustainable jobs for people of all skill levels across the country. It is a key element of the success of France 2030: helping to cultivate new talent while accelerating the adaptation of training programs to the demands of emerging sectors and the jobs of tomorrow. In this context, the "Skills and Jobs of the Future" call for projects aims to address the training and skills needs for the jobs of the future. Eleven AI-related training initiatives have been selected from across France, ensuring effective national coverage.
