France adopts artificial intelligence to strengthen security against cyberattacks

Faced with successive attacks on public institutions, France announced that it will use artificial intelligence tools to detect vulnerabilities in its government systems. The measure was communicated by a ministerial representative in response to recent security incidents. The General Directorate of Public Finance faced two attacks in 2026: in June, data of approximately 700,000 taxpayers were exposed, followed by another incident in July involving about 200,000 property registration accounts. A third breach was identified in the following month, with damages still under assessment. The French government plans to hire local AI companies for this task, notably Mistral, a French company founded in 2023 by researchers who worked at Google DeepMind and Meta. The choice reflects Europe's effort to reduce dependence on American technology and strengthen the region's digital sovereignty.