France actively participates in international efforts and the EU AI Act negotiations, and proposes sector-specific laws.

Laws/Regulations directly regulating AI (the “AI Regulations”)

Currently, there are no specific laws, statutory rules, or regulations in France that directly regulate AI. France is not expected to enact its own comprehensive AI regulation because (as for all EU Member States) the EU AI Act is expected to fulfill this function. However, France is likely to regulate AI on a sector-specific basis. For example:

• There is a legislative proposal to amend the copyright provisions of the French Intellectual Property Code (IPC) to properly account for AI.¹

• The French data protection agency (the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL)) established the Artificial Intelligence Service to address questions relating to the relationship between AI and data protection. The CNIL has also published an AI Action Plan (May 2023) and a series of AI "how-to sheets," intended to provide clarifications and recommendations for the development of AI systems.²

• In 2017, the French government launched the National AI Strategy as part of "France 2030." The National AI Strategy is divided into two phases. The first phase aimed to provide France with competitive AI research capacities (2018-2022). The second phase aims to disseminate AI within the economy, and to support development in priority areas (2021-2025), which led to, several calls for AI projects, for example:³

  • The Call for Trusted Artificial Intelligence Demonstrators (DIAC) (operated by Bpifrance). The aim of this project is to support the development of hardware, software, and system innovations aimed at maturing and demonstrating critical functional systems integrating trusted artificial intelligence (in fields such as safety and security, robustness, explicability, ethics, etc.).

  • The Second wave of the Demonstrators of Artificial Intelligence in Territories (DIAT) call for projects (operated by the Banque des Territoires). The aim of this project is to support technology demonstrator projects based on data science and artificial intelligence responding to territorial challenges.

  • Relaunch of the Technological Maturation and Demonstration of Embedded Artificial Intelligence Technologies call for projects (operated by Bpifrance). The aim of this project is to develop and test embedded AI solutions under real-life conditions. It also supports the development of advanced hardware architectures for deploying algorithms on embedded systems.

  • Call for projects Digital Commons for Generative AI. The aim of this project is to build and make Digital Commons available for Generative AI.

  • Call for projects IA Booster France 2030. This project is aimed at French small and medium sized enterprises and intermediate sized enterprises in all sectors. Priority is given to companies with between ten and 2,000 employees and sales in excess of 250,000 euros.⁴

  • IA-cluster call for projects. The aim of this project is to establish five to ten universities/schools as global leaders in AI. The objective is to position at least three French institutions in the world's Top-50 universities in the field of AI.⁵

• The Generative AI Committee was inaugurated on September 19, 2023. This Committee brings together stakeholders from different sectors (cultural, economic, technological, research), to help inform government decisions and make France a country at the forefront of the AI revolution.

Status of the AI Regulations

The EU AI Act is addressed separately here: AI watch: Global regulatory tracker - European Union

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in France that directly regulate AI, and the EU AI Act will (once finalized) apply in France. However:

• The IPC amendment was proposed to the French National Assembly in September 2023 (as discussed above)
• While the CNIL intends to regulate AI, it has not yet published any draft laws or regulations

Other laws affecting AI

There are various laws that do not directly seek to regulate AI, but may affect the development or use of AI in France. A non-exhaustive list of key examples includes:

• The Law for a Digital Republic
• French antitrust and competition law, especially the Commercial Code
• The Public Health Code
• Laws relating to data protection and the GDPR
• Civil and product liability laws (as far as they can concern AI systems)
• Security and cybersecurity legislation
• Intellectual property laws may affect several aspects of AI development and use

These French laws are not specifically intended to regulate AI but may have an impact on the development or use of AI in France.

Definition of “AI”

As noted above, there are no laws that directly regulate AI in France. Accordingly, there is currently no single legally recognized definition of "AI" in France.

Nonetheless, the sector-specific developments outlined above may provide some indication as to how France may, in the future, legally define "AI":

• The IPC amendment does not explicitly define "AI."⁶ The preamble states that AI is "an ecosystem which is advancing by leaps and bounds," and that in the face of this phenomenon, "the legislator must imperatively protect authors and artists of creation and interpretation according to a humanist principle, in legal accord with the [IPC]".
• The CNIL has defined "AI" as: "a logical and automated process that is usually based on an algorithm and can perform well-defined tasks." According to the CNIL, "[f]or the European Parliament, artificial intelligence is any tool used by a machine to "reproduce human-related behaviour, such as reasoning, planning and creativity". More specifically, the European Commission considers that AI includes:
  • Machine-learning approaches
  • Logic- and knowledge-based approaches
  • Statistical approaches, Bayesian estimation, and search and optimization methods"⁷
• France's political initiatives have not specifically defined "AI," but an AI strategy is being put in place because "AI enables substantial gains in competitiveness or productivity in all sectors of the economy and in public services. Data science, machine learning and robotics thus form the matrix of the 4th industrial revolution."⁸

Territorial scope

As noted above, France is not expected to enact its own comprehensive national AI regulation. Accordingly, any specific territorial scope would be limited to the sector-specific developments identified above. For example:

• The proposed IPC amendment applies at a national level.⁹
• The CNIL's main focus is AI regulation, in particular, to support innovative players in the AI ecosystem in France and Europe. According to the CNIL, "[its] AI regulation aims to bring out, promote and help prosper actors in a framework that is faithful to the values of protecting French and European fundamental rights and freedoms."¹⁰

Sectoral scope

As noted above, France is not expected to enact its own comprehensive national AI regulation. Nevertheless, and as noted above, there have been sector-specific developments:

• The proposed IPC amendment is intended to encourage AI systems to respect copyright by establishing a framework to protect the rights of artists and authors. The IPC amendment applies to the exploitation of AI-generated works.
• The CNIL's action plan aims to promote the development of privacy-friendly AI. The plan has a large sectoral scope (including health, education, etc.).¹¹
• National policy initiatives concern the AI ecosystem at all stages of development (research, development and innovation, applications, market launch and cross-sector dissemination, deployment support and guidance).

Compliance roles

As noted above, France is not expected to enact its own comprehensive national AI regulation.

Nevertheless, the CNIL has issued guidance aimed at providers, operators, and end-users of AI systems.¹² These parties would also be required to comply with the obligations set out in the proposed IPC amendment.¹³

The national strategy promotes aims to equip France with competitive research capabilities, and to disseminate AI technologies throughout the economy. Students are encouraged to train themselves, and all concerned individuals will need to place education among the best internationally in AI research and training. Similarly, developers or deployers of AI systems will have to promote their dissemination, notably through the development of trusted and high-performing solutions.

Core issues that the AI Regulations seek to address

• The EU AI Act is likely to address many of the usual core issues, and that detail is not discussed here. Focusing on the sector-specific developments, the CNIL's AI Action Plan (May 2023) aims to address the following issues:
  • The lack of understanding of the functioning of AI systems, and their impacts on individuals
  • Compliance with the GDPR (especially for the training of Generative AI)
  • The potential monopolization of AI innovation
  • The lack of control over AI¹⁴
• The proposed IPC amendment aims to address the use of copyrighted works in developing and operating AI systems; and authorship and copyright ownership issues in AI-generated works.

Risk categorization

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations directly governing AI in France. The EU AI Act will introduce its own system of risk categorization. However:

• The proposed IPC amendment imposes strict control over the exploitation of AI-generated works, without categorizing them according to risk.
• The CNIL's AI Action Plan does not set out an AI-related system of risk categorization.
• Finally, the national strategy for AI does not appear to take a risk-based approach either.

Key compliance requirements

As noted above, France is not expected to enact its own comprehensive national AI regulation.

Nevertheless, regarding the sector-specific development:

• Under the proposed IPC amendment, developers, deployers and users of AI systems will have to ensure that they:
  • Obtain authorization to use the right-holders work to develop the AI-generated content
  • Assign ownership of any fully AI-generated work to the authors/right holders
  • Comply with any transparency obligations requiring AI-generated work. In accordance with the proposed IPC amendment, the exploitation of AI-generated works should be strictly controlled¹⁵
• Per the CNIL's guidance, AI developers, deployers and users will have to:
  • Determine the applicable legal regime
  • Define the purpose for processing data
  • Determine the legal qualification of AI system providers
  • Ensure the lawfulness of the data processing
  • Carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) when necessary
  • Take data protection into account
  • Account for data protection regulation in the collection and management of data

Regulators

The CNIL is expected to take a central role in the regulation and oversight of AI in France, having created a dedicated AI department and published an AI Action Plan.¹⁶

France has appointed a "national coordinator for AI" who will be responsible for inter-ministerial coordination of the national AI strategy.

Enforcement powers and penalties

As noted above, France is not expected to enact its own comprehensive national AI regulation. Accordingly, enforcement and penalties relating to the creation, dissemination and/or use of AI are governed by: (i) the EU AI Act; and (ii) related violations in non AI-specific regulation.

In addition, Article 4 of the proposed IPC amendment imposes a tax on the operators of AI systems where a work is generated by AI based on another work with unidentifiable origins. The proposed IPC amendment also stipulates that this tax will be imposed on the company operating the artificial intelligence system used to generate the said "artificial work."¹⁷

1 The IPC's legislative proposal is available here.
2 The CNIL's AI Action Plan is available here; how-to sheets are available here; and guidance on developing, training, or using AI systems is available here.
3 The National AI Strategy is available here.
4 The French government's AI Booster France 2030 program is available here.
5 The AI-cluster action plan is available here.
6 The IPC's legislative proposal is available here.
7 The CNIL's AI Action Plan is available here; know-how sheets are available here; and guidance on developing, training, or using AI systems is available here.
8 The France government's AI Booster France 2030 program is available here, and the AI-cluster action plan is available here.
9 The IPC's legislative proposal is available here.
10 Please see here, objective 3: "Federal and support innovative players in the AI ecosystem in France and Europe".
11 The CNIL's AI Action Plan is available here.
12 Guidance on developing, training, or using AI systems is available here.
13 The IPC's legislative proposal is available here.
14 The CNIL's AI Action Plan is available here. The CNIL's four key objectives are: (i) understanding the functioning of AI systems and their impacts for people; (ii) enabling and guiding the development of AI that respects personal data; (iii) federating and supporting innovative players in the AI ecosystem in France and Europe; and (iv) auditing and controlling AI systems and protecting people.
15 The IPC's legislative proposal is available here.
16 The CNIL's AI Action Plan is available here.
17 The IPC's legislative proposal is available here.

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