TLDR : CIAN replaces CNNum, aiming to guide public decisions on AI in a transformed geopolitical context, co-chaired by Anne Bouverot and Guillaume Poupard.
On June 12 at VivaTech, Clara Chappaz, the Deputy Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology, officially announced the creation of the National Council for AI and Digital Technology (CIAN). This new independent advisory body will have the mission of informing public decisions, "in the face of the revolution in the use of artificial intelligence across all sectors of society and in a geopolitically deeply transformed context," according to the government.
CIAN succeeds the National Digital Council (CNNum) created in 2011 under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, thus undergoing a renewal. It will be co-chaired by Anne Bouverot, Special Envoy for the AI Action Summit, and Guillaume Poupard, Deputy General Manager of Docaposte, former director of ANSSI, the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI).
Both succeed Françoise Mercadal-Delasalles and Gilles Babinet, who was entrusted with the mission to scale the AI Cafés, initiated by CNNum, at the national level.
Integrated into the network of the High Commission for Strategy and Planning, CIAN will cooperate with other institutions in the network such as the Economic Analysis Council, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, and the National Digital Ethics Advisory Committee. To conduct its work, it will rely on an interdisciplinary college of 14 members, from civil society or parliamentarians, who will lead thematic working groups.
A general secretariat attached to the digital economy service of the General Directorate of Enterprises will assist it in its operations.
The decree formalizing the creation of CIAN will be published shortly, along with the complete list of members who will make up this body.
The two new co-presidents declare:
"We are honored to co-chair this Council for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology and eager to work with all its members. As digital technologies evolve rapidly, offering tremendous opportunities while profoundly questioning our societies in a complex and unstable geopolitical world, our ambition is to help gather expertise to inform public decisions and contribute to an informed, demanding, and open debate, in the service of the general interest."