Franco-German Partnerships in AI

Red Baron took part in the French Summer University at the Frankreich Zentrum of Freiburg University once again this year.

One of the topics covered at the Sommeruniversität was artificial intelligence, a field where Europe lags behind and where one looks for Une intelligence artificielle européenne with partenariats franco-allemands dans le domaine.

Our teacher surprised us with an AI-generated photo. Nice try, but you can't see the Minster Church from the lecture hall. Madame had crutches, alright, but she exuded a "few more years" of experience.

AI is almost everywhere.

ChatGPT, how does it work?

AI understands, learns, and generates.

The slide above shows the European misery. Only DeepL and Mistral make it in the European charts, while the software market is dominated by American companies.

 

The challenges

Working together to build European technical, ethical, and competitive sovereignty.

 
Geopolitical and economic challenges
- Digital sovereignty
- Strategic independence
- Competitiveness

 
Ethical and societal challenges
- Respect for values
- Data protection

 
Technological and industrial challenges
- Access to resources
- Brain drain*
*The French have that cute fuite des cerveaux, while in German we simply adopted brain drain since Fachkräfteabwanderung sounds indeed clumsy.

Red Baron thinks the European program is too ambitious and comes too late, especially since international players tend to regard ethical and data protection concerns as secondary when it comes to maximizing profits.

Moreover, the mills of EU bureaucracy in Brussels turn too slowly and are already being steamrolled by accelerating technological developments.

 

French President Emmanuel Macron (l) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
take part in the European Digital Sovereignty Summit
Nov. 18, 2025, in Berlin, Germany (©Kay Nietfeld/dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP)

Still, President Macron and Chancellor Merz believe it is worth a try.

Marianne kicks out Windows while little Linux walks in

American dominance is overwhelming, yet France got the ball already rolling with some housekeeping.

So far, Europe hasn't fully taken Chinese AI into account.

And what about the ecological impact of AI?

A simple query to ChatGPT requires 0.3 Wh and produces up to 4.3 g of CO₂. AI's electricity consumption already accounts for 2% of global electricity generation, and that figure is rising.

 
The lively discussion gave us plenty of opportunities to practice our French.

 

At the end of the course, our teacher invited us to write the lyrics for a chanson, which ChatGPT Suno then set to music.

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