CMA CGM chairman Rodolphe Saadé has announced plans to invest in ventures outside the company’s core container shipping segment following record-breaking annual profits in French history last year. These investments include building a media division, an air cargo business, and a foray into artificial intelligence.
Saadé, alongside Eric Schmidt and Xavier Niel, have unveiled Kyutai, an AI open science lab. Kyutai is a non-profit laboratory dedicated to open research in AI, aimed at tackling the main challenges of modern AI. The laboratory will use the computing power made available by Scaleway, part of Niel’s tech empire, with the highest-performance computing power for AI applications deployed in Europe.
Kyutai has received nearly EUR300m in investments to date and is committed to democratizing AI and sharing its advances with the entire AI ecosystem. Saadé expressed his desire for the younger generation to benefit from the opportunities of AI through Kyutai, ensuring researchers have the resources they need to create and invent the world of tomorrow.
The CMA CGM Group’s involvement in AI research is driven by a desire to place France and the rest of Europe at the forefront of artificial intelligence research, creating a dynamic and innovative ecosystem to keep businesses competitive. Saadé emphasized that joining forces is the best way to prepare for the future in the realm of AI.