It is in a wooded environment south of the capital that the University of Paris-Saclay trains future specialists in artificial intelligence (AI), highly coveted elite profiles, internationally but also in France, where they often hope to stay. Despite the attractive salaries on the other side of the Atlantic, Manon Arfib, in her last year at CentraleSupélec, specializing in AI, is thinking about her future in France, where she would like to join the research and development center of a large group on energy and ecological transition issues.
Paris-Saclay, which brings together major schools and research organizations, produces future scientists and engineers and ranks second in mathematics in the world after Harvard, recalls Frédéric Pascal, vice president of AI at the university.
Paris is “the best place in Europe currently” to do AI
France is proud to be the third country in the world in the number of researchers specialized in artificial intelligence and its talent is distinguished by that of the technological giants. Two Frenchmen hold prestigious positions among industry leaders: Yann LeCun directs scientific research on AI at Meta and Joëlle Barral is engineering director at Google DeepMind.
At the Paris-Saclay campus, Mathis Pernin, MVA teacher, is convinced: Paris is “the best place in Europe currently” to do AI. The student, dressed in black, wants to join a startup to apply his knowledge of artificial intelligence in the field of sports. “As Europeans and French, we have a certain vision of things, different from that of the Americans and the Chinese, which is based more on regulation and responsibility,” he continues. “I like to work with that in mind.”
Because the geopolitical context also influences, analyzes Joëlle Pineau, AI director at Cohere, a Canadian company specialized in artificial intelligence models for companies.
“The quality and density of talent in France are truly exceptional”
Cohere opened an office in Paris in September and aims to double its workforce from 20 to 40 employees in 2026. It joins other companies that want to take advantage of the French pool and that have recently set up shop in the capital, such as the American start-ups Anthropic and OpenAI. “The quality and density of talent in France are truly exceptional,” underlines Joëlle Pineau, former vice president of AI research at Meta.
To hire, “as in any market, there is competition,” acknowledges Charles de Fréminville, human resources director at Mistral AI. The French AI startup, which recently raised €1.7 billion, is actively recruiting and hopes to double its size next year to reach 1,200 employees.
Paris-Saclay wants to double the number of AI graduates
But for smaller companies like Gojob, a French specialist in temporary recruitment using artificial intelligence solutions, which has a research laboratory in Aix-en-Provence, finding cutting-edge engineers can be more difficult.
At Paris-Saclay University, students receive numerous job offers. “Every week there are new hiring offers,” confesses Ève Delegue, 23 years old, recent graduate of the MVA (Mathematics, Vision, Learning) master’s degree, directed by the ENS Paris-Saclay, one of the real routes to work in the AI sector.
And the proposals are varied: “insurance, artificial intelligence consulting, companies in Dubai,” he explains on a misty October morning in one of the campus buildings where multicolored sofas, raw wooden tables and a climbing wall mix. Aware of the growing needs, Paris-Saclay University, which has 1,500 Bac+5 graduates in AI each year, wants to double this figure in five years.
Source: BFM TV
