International Cooperation for Public Interest AI: Chilean and French Authorities and Scientists Gather in Paris at the AI Action Summit

During the AI Action Summit, Inria Chile, together with the Chilean Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge, and Innovation and Inria, organized the side event "Franco-Chilean AI Center: Building Public Interest AI through International Cooperation." The event brought together more than 60 people in the Salle des Résistants at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

The meeting focused on addressing the need to strengthen international cooperation to develop AI as a tool serving the public interest and discussing the milestone marked by the Franco-Chilean Binational Center on Artificial Intelligence in this context.

The event began with opening remarks from Aisén Etcheverry, Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge, and Innovation of Chile, and Bruno Sportisse, Chairman and CEO of Inria, who highlighted the collaboration between Chile and France in developing AI, with a special emphasis on the Binational Center.

Sharing her vision of the Binational Center, Minister Aisén Etcheverry explained: 'The Binational Center is a tool for all scientists, Chilean, French, but also Latin American and European. It is essentially a vehicle for collaboration for our companies, our startups, our universities, and anyone involved in the development of artificial intelligence who is willing to collaborate, participate, and work hard in developing AI that is sustainable over time. over time. So this is really good news for us. It is the result of a lot of work, but it is also a very concrete example of how, from Chile, we project international collaboration, technological development, and science as a tool to move forward.”

On his part, Bruno Sportisse explained that 'this is just one of many side events dedicated to the Binational Center, which illustrates its importance to us. Moreover, this is an AI Action Summit, and action is very important. I believe that what we are trying to build, based on what we have achieved with this partnership, is truly in the spirit of the AI Action Summit. That is, artificial intelligence goes beyond science and technology and has a significant impact, a major impact on society. Secondly, it is very important to have science-based conversations at the international level and to develop science-based public policies, because this is a fast- evolving field.”

The roundtable was moderated by Bruno Patino, President of ARTE France and Vice President of ARTE GEIE, who has a deep understanding of Latin America and Chile, as well as the processes of digital transformation and the challenges of artificial intelligence, especially in the media where his career has led him to spearhead digital transformation processes at the French newspaper Le Monde and currently at the European cultural television channel ARTE.

Contributing their views and vision on international cooperation in artificial intelligence and public interest AI were:

• Aisén Etcheverry, Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge, and Innovation of Chile;

• Bruno Sportisse, Chairman and CEO of Inria; 

• Thibaut Kleiner, Director of Policy Strategy and Outreach at DG Connect, European Commission; 

• Nayat Sánchez-Pi, Director of Inria Chile and Director of the Franco-Chilean Binational Center on Artificial Intelligence; 

• Guy Perrin, astronomer, member of the Académie des Sciences, and mission leader for Astronomy and Space Research at the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research; 

• Roberto Di Cosmo, Director of Software Heritage; and

• Bruno Patino, President of ARTE France and Vice President of ARTE GIEIE, moderator of the discussion.

During the conversation, they addressed the need, given the current context and the enormous challenges posed by the development of AI in the world for our economies, societies, and democracies, to strengthen international cooperation for the development of AI serving the well-being of humanity and as a tool for the public interest—topics fully aligned with the AI Action Summit. They highlighted its potential for empowering people, respecting human rights, and protecting democracy. The discussion also covered the impact of AI in Latin America and its role in the scientific and technological development of the region.

In this regard, Thibaut Kleiner, of the European Commission, emphasized the importance of the shared vision of digital transformation between the European Union and Chile, and Latin America in general. For example, the fact that free will is fundamental, that sustainability and the environment are relevant, and that technologies should serve people rather than manipulate or control them, are shared principles between both regions that are essential for developing trustworthy, efficient, and impactful alliances. For Th. Kleiner, the collaboration in AI between France and Chile, reflected through the Binational Center, is guided by these fundamental principles and presents an opportunity to deepen relations between the two regions, particularly in the current geopolitical context.

On his part, Guy Perrin, astronomer and member of the Académie des Sciences, emphasized the importance of Chile for astronomical research and the role of artificial intelligence in revolutionizing the field. For astronomers worldwide, but particularly for European astronomers, Chile is crucial for advancing our understanding of the universe due to the clarity of its skies and because it has hosted all the astronomical infrastructures of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) since the 1960s, enabling significant discoveries for humanity over the past 50 years. Perrin also highlighted how advances in AI are revolutionizing the field, improving and accelerating scientific research in astronomy in an unprecedented manner, and how the creation of the Franco-Chilean Binational Center on Artificial Intelligence is key to fostering collaboration in AI for astronomy.

Roberto Di Cosmo, Director of Software Heritage, addressed the importance of open-source software as a fundamental tool for promoting development, transparency, and democratization in the use of artificial intelligence. He also emphasized the relevance of ensuring the traceability of source codes as an essential aspect of creating responsible and ethical AI, underscoring how these principles enable more equitable access to technological knowledge. For Di Cosmo, collaboration with Chile through the recently launched Binational Center is fundamental. The announcement made the previous day by the Director of the Binational Center, Nayat Sánchez-Pi, regarding the open-source infrastructure of Software Heritage as a priority for the Center in 2025 is great news.

Summarizing the vision and ambition of the Binational Center, Nayat Sánchez-Pi concluded by explaining, 'What we will do with the Binational Center is connect both AI ecosystems: the Chilean and the French. By doing this, we will scale up everything we can achieve by enhancing and scaling AI capabilities, which involves talent, computing infrastructure, software infrastructure, and the creation of robust and high-quality data corpora. We will work and collaborate with both ecosystems under the shared vision of developing responsible and ethical AI for the common good.”